De Vere breathes sigh of relief as bid war ends

Activist shareholder GPG has abandoned its bid to win control of 35% of De Vere Group and force the company to sell off its five-star De Vere-branded chain.

GPG announced today that its partial offer had lapsed after shareholders representing just 0.55% of De Vere's shares took up the offer and a further 10% gave their support.

De Vere said it was pleased "that it is now free of this lengthy, unnecessary and costly distraction" and could now focus on implementing its own strategy for the group.

It plans to hold on to the De Vere hotels, improving their operational performance and branching out into areas such as management contracts, while selling off any underperforming properties.

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