Hostile bids by Japanese companies are as rare as hens’ teeth, but one arrived in London yesterday when Gestetner Holdings Plc received an unsolicited bid from 28.8% shareholder Ricoh Co Ltd, which is offering 90 pence per capital share, the level at which Inchcape Plc, with a 15% stake, has said it will be prepared to sell, and 80 pence per share for the ordinaries. Gestetner greeted the bid from its partner sourly, saying that while its directors have agreed to talk to Ricoh with a view to negotiating the terms of an offer that could be recommended to shareholders, the Ricoh offer falls seriously short on two crucial issues since it seems to discriminate between ordinary shareholders and ordinary capital shareholders, and that any offer at 90 pence woul d be a classically opportunistic negotiating ploy. We are advising shareholders to sit tight while we talk to Ricoh about the real value of Gestetner. Ricoh says it will proceed.The ordinaries rose 20.5 pence to 82p, the capitals 15p to 93p.
