Savoy owner may get new takeover bid

The corporate raider whose bid for Fairmont Hotels, owner of London's Savoy hotel, was rejected last week, says he may come back with a higher offer for the whole company.

Carl Icahn had put forward a $1.2b partial bid for 41% of Fairmont's share capital. But Fairmont's board of directors rejected the offer last week.

Now, in a letter sent to the directors yesterday, Icahn has said that he "may be in a position to make an offer for the entire company at a substantially increased price."

But this would depend on Icahn being given access to Fairmont's full financial details in order to conduct detailed "due diligence" research.

Icahn added: "We continue to believe that Fairmont is currently undervalued."

by David Shrimpton

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