UK's Hotel Chocolat Group up 166% on $662 mln Mars offer
16/11/2023 08:30
** Shares of Hotel Chocolat Group Plc HOTC.L up 166% to
370p, the day's high
** British specialist chocolatier Hotel Chocolat agrees to
375p per share cash takeover offer from Mars Inc, after the pair
agreed the food giant was well-positioned to help the small
retailer expand internationally
** Offer represents a premium of about 169.8% to Hotel
Chocolat's Wednesday closing price of 139p
** Offer values co at to 534 mln pounds ($662 mln)
** As an alternative to cash offer, eligible HOTC
shareholders may elect to get one unlisted share of Class B
stock of bidco as a 'rollover share' for each Hotel Chocolat
share
** Day's gains take YTD gains to ~134%
($1 = 0.8072 pounds)
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru)
((abyjose.koilparambil@thomsonreuters.com))