Frasers Group calls on MySale shareholders to accept cash offer

Frasers Group has urged the shareholders of Australian e-commerce site MySale to accept its cash offer after the group acquired further shares.

The acquisition-hungry group, which counts the likes of House of Frasers and Sports Direct among its portfolio, has announced in a regulatory filing that it has purchased an additional 65.4 million shares of the members-only marketplace.

It follows the group’s mandatory cash offer to acquire MySale’s entire share capital in June, after it became the company’s biggest shareholder.

This hold is expected to grow upon the settlement of its new shares, which will see Frasers owned shares grow to represent 55.8 percent of MySale’s capital.

Its new announcement closely follows a U-turn made by the marketplace’s board of directors, who initially urged shareholders to reject the offer, stating that it undervalued the company at a price of two pence per share.

The MySale board reversed its decision on Wednesday, October 13, noting that while it still believed the deal “undervalues the company”, it was now recommending that shareholders accept the offer.

Frasers Group has been upping its pressure on MySale in the hope of a takeover, with it warning earlier in October that it could delist the company from the stock exchange even if the takeover wasn’t accepted.

In its new filing, the group doubled down on this point, stating that if the offer was declared unconditional, it would consider making the application for the cancellation of MySale’s shares on AIM.

The move would take effect no earlier than 20 business days following the application, from which time Frasers stated it may consider re-registering the company as a Jersey private company.