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Brave Bison Group PLC on Monday ditched the idea of making a takeover offer for Mission Group PLC, complaining that its attempts for ‘constructive dialogue’ were rejected. Brave Bison, a London-based digital advertising and technology service provider, said it is ‘disappointed by the lack of engagement’ from the Mission board. ‘The Mission board, led by the chair, rejected Brave Bison’s attempts for constructive dialogue and chose not to provide access to due diligence information or key management personnel,’ Brave Bison said in a statement. Further, the Mission board has not offered an extension to the put-up-or-shut-up deadline by which point Brave Bison would be required to make a firm offer for Mission, Brave Bison noted. Brave Bison said it is a ‘disciplined acquirer’ and is not willing to advance the possible offer ‘without due diligence or access to key management’. ‘As such, Brave Bison confirms that it does not intend to make an offer for Mission,’ it added. For its part, Mission Group said it was ‘confident’ in Mission’s standalone prospects. ‘The board of Mission also remains confident that during the remainder of the year, it will deliver on its plan to reduce leverage,’ the company said in response to Brave Bison’s announcement. Shares in Mission were down 8.3% to 24.75 pence in London on Monday morning for a £22.8 million market capitalisation. Shares in Brave Bison were down 0.4% to 2.44p for a £31.4 million market cap. Last Thursday, Mission unanimously rejected what it called an ‘opportunistic’ revised bid proposal from Brave Bison stating it ‘undervalues the group and its prospects’. Mission, a Devon, England-based owner of a group of digital marketing and communications agencies, said the proposal was dilutive to shareholders as it didn’t properly reflect the relevant contributions of each party to the proposed combined group. Last Monday, Brave Bison said it had on May 25 submitted revised terms for a possible offer for Mission worth around 35.1 pence per share or £32.3 million in total. The terms of the revised proposal were 13.9 Brave Bison shares for each Mission share. Brave Bison said the revised proposal implied an enterprise value for Mission of £59.1 million, inclusive of £26.8 million net debt. The proposal represented a 21% increase from Brave Bison’s initial approach of 29.04p per share, or £26.4 million. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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