Aga Rangemaster is at the centre of a bidding war after revealing US appliance giant Whirlpool was considering a bid to rival Middleby’s £129m offer.
The maker of the cast iron cookers and range cookers said it was in talks with Whirlpool over a possible offer after receiving an approach and has opened its books to the suitor.
Shares in Aga surged by around 12% on hopes of a higher bid.
Whirlpool’s move to overtake the Middleby bid comes just a week before Aga shareholders are due to vote on the deal, with Aga set to officially approve the takeover on September 16th.
But Aga said it was still backing the 185p a share offer made by American kitchen equipment firm Middleby in July in the absence of any firm bid from Whirlpool.
Whirlpool confirmed its takeover interest in Aga, although it stressed “there can be no certainty that a formal offer will be made or as to the terms of any offer”.
Aga said: “Given the conditionality of the Whirlpool offer, the board of Aga believes it is in the best interests of Aga shareholders, taken as a whole, to ensure that the Middleby transaction continues to be executed on the current timetable to avoid any delay to completion of that transaction should a firm offer from Whirlpool not be forthcoming.”
But it said Tuesday that, “The company has granted due diligence access to Whirlpool and is in discussions with Whirlpool regarding other aspects of the possible offer,”
Aga is in talks with the UK Takeover Panel to set a “put up or shut up” deadline for Whirlpool to make a firm bid or walk away.
The takeover battle comes after Aga appointed advisers Rothschild to help assess “development opportunities” for the business at the start of this year.
It first revealed talks with Illinois-based Middleby in June, before agreeing the deal a month later.
Middleby has sought to allay concerns over the future of Aga’s UK manufacturing operations as part of the takeover.
Operating profits were up 16.7 per cent to £2.8m, but bottom line pre-tax profits for the half-year widened from £300,000 to £4m due to a higher pension charge and the £3m cost of advisers on the takeover deal.
AGA Rangemaster is grappling with a hefty pension deficit, valued at about £84m.