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Auction Technology Group PLC’s largest investor on Monday hit out at the company’s ‘extreme shareholder value destruction’, taking aim at the Chairish acquisition and a lack of engagement in the face of takeover interest. FitzWalter Capital Ltd made 11 takeover tilts for the London-based auction market operator, ATG said last week. FitzWalter owns around 21% of ATG. ATG said last week the most recent proposal on December 23 was at 360 pence per share in cash, which would value the company at £442.3 million. ATG shares were 0.2% higher at 328.50p each in London on Monday afternoon, giving it a £397.8 million market capitalisation. Shares have fallen 38% over the past 12 months. Last week, ATG Chair Scott Forbes said: ‘ATG remains confident about achieving its ambitions as a publicly listed company and delivering significant shareholder value. ‘The board has undertaken significant engagement with FitzWalter over the past four months. The board believes FitzWalter’s proposals fundamentally undervalue the business and that it is time for FitzWalter either to make a proposal which reflects fair value, or otherwise allow the business to dedicate its full focus and resources on the execution of its strategy.’ In response, FitzWalter on Monday said ATG’s shares have declined by 51%, 46%, 64% and 82% over the past one, two, three and four years. ‘The words of the board ring hollow, having presided over such extreme shareholder value destruction,’ FitzWalter said. FitzWalter hit out at the $85 million buy of Chairish by ATG, labelling it a ‘loss-making business at acquisition’. It also took aim at ATG’s statement that it ‘constructively engaged with FitzWalter’. ‘In September 2025, FitzWalter was informed by the board that its preferred alternative (vis a vis the FitzWalter possible offer) was a disposal of its very material I&C division [around 45% of 2025 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation], in order to fund the re-investment of sale proceeds into subsequent acquisitions. ‘The proposal to give up existing earnings and seeking to replace them with new acquisitions of the board’s choosing would have been in the face of the severe negative share price reaction to ATG’s acquisition of Chairish only one month earlier, which resulted in the aforementioned share price decline of 21.7%.’ FitzWalter said it ‘also became clear’ that ATG did not run a formal sales process for the I&C division, only engaging with one party other than FitzWalter. Andrew Gray, a partner at FitzWalter, said: ‘Given the majority of the board has de minimis shareholdings in the company, and therefore has not experienced the pain that shareholders have suffered as a result of the value destruction the board has presided over.’ FitzWalter added: ‘A common thread amongst the board’s recent actions has been to prevent shareholders having a chance to cast their own vote - on a divestment, acquisition, or offer for the company as a whole, and to pursue an alternative which entrenches the current board’s disastrous oversight.’ Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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