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Flowers told to bid for Friends Prov or walk away
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. buyout firm J.C. Flowers must make a firm takeover offer for British insurer Friends Provident Plc FP.L by the end of this month or walk away, Britain's takeover regulator said on Thursday.
The Takeover Panel said after a request by Friends it had set a "put up or shut up" deadline of noon EDT on April 30 for Flowers to "either announce a firm intention to make an offer ... or announce that it does not intend to make an offer."
If Flowers says it doesn't intend to bid it would not be able to return for a further six months.
The Panel said both sides had accepted its ruling.
Flowers has been stalking Friends for several months and last week made an indicative proposal worth 150 pence per share.
It was rejected by Friends as significantly undervaluing the company. The insurer said the proposal "does not represent a basis for discussion", signaling the two sides had not held talks.
Flowers said in January it was considering making an offer and said at that time it had bought 2.7 percent of its target.
By 10:25 a.m. EDT, Friends shares were down 0.4 percent at 134p, valuing the company at 3.1 billion pounds ($6.2 billion).
(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by David Holmes)
