Italian eyewear firm Safilo considering third offer for UK's Inspecs

(Sharecast News) - Italian eyewear company Safilo has said it is considering making a third, revised offer to acquire UK-listed peer Inspecs after two previous takeover approaches were rejected. On 23 October, Padua-based Safilo had put forward a proposal to buy Inspecs' German divisions, Eschenbach and BoDe, making two non-binding cash offers for the entire issued share capital of the company.

The UK outfit, which on the same date had received two separate proposals from investment firm H2 Equity Partners and another consortium of investors, rejected Safilo's proposal.

Safilo's offers were both lower than the two alternative offers and "fundamentally undervalued the company", Inspecs said.

However, Inspecs said this week that it continues to provide Safilo with access to company information, and has extended the so-called 'put up or shut up' offer deadline to 1700 on 18 December.

In response, Safilo put out a statement on Friday, saying that it was continuing to assess its options, "including the possibility of making a revised offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Inspecs", though no certainty of an offer could be made.

Inspecs shares were up 1.6% at 74.2p by 0834 GMT, taking its year-to-date gain to just under 69%.