LONDON (Brand Republic) - Online directory service Scoot.com is considering a break-up of the company and a sell-off of parts of the business, unless it receives a better offer than Friday’s 15p-a-share takeover bid from Vivendi Universal.
Vivendi’s offer, which values the company at £100m, was rejected on Friday as “wholly inadequate”.
Vivendi already owns a 22% stake in Scoot after investing £300m into the company last year, but on Friday the group insisted that it will not pay more than £80m for the 78% it doesn’t already own. Today, however, press reports say that Vivendi is considering increasing its bid.
If talks with Vivendi fail, Scoot.com could sell non-core parts of the business in Asia, Ireland and the US in order to fund the ongoing business, according to reports.
One part of the business that could be first to go is the successful classified advertising paper Loot and its online operation, which alone has been valued as high as £100m.
However, some analysts have pointed out that with less than £30m in the bank, the loss-making internet firm does not have much time to find a buyer for the businesses -- or a new bidder -- and might have to accept Vivendi’s offer.
At its height in the dotcom boom, Scoot.com was valued at about £2.5bn, with its shares reaching 350p in March 2000. Earlier this month, the share price dived to 7.5p.
On the London Stock Exchange this morning, shares opened at 15.5p, up from Friday’s close of 12.75p.
www.scoot.com
www.vivendi.com
Scoot’s future unclear after ‘inadequate’ Vivendi bid
Online directory service Scoot.com is considering a break-up of the company and a sell-off of parts of the business, unless it receives a better offer than Friday’s 15p-a-share takeover bid from Vivendi Universal.