Piedmont to meet Takeover Panel

The largest shareholder at British pubs operator Mitchells & Butlers will meet with the UK Takeover Panel on Monday to argue it is not working in concert with other parties to get control of the group, a source told Reuters.

The source, close to Piedmont Inc, the largest shareholder and an investment vehicle owned by the Bahamas-based billionaire Joe Lewis, said the group would argue its case after its two representatives on the board were sacked last week.

M&B last week ousted four directors, including Lewis' two representatives and two others, and called on the Takeover Panel to rule whether rebel shareholders were trying to gain control of the group.

"Piedmont will be going to the Takeover Panel tomorrow" the source said. "They hope to clear their name and to explicitly show they are not acting in concert with other parties."

The comments follow a report in the Sunday Telegraph that said the group would also demand the reinstatement of the two directors.

Piedmont declined to comment on Sunday and no one was immediately available at M&B.

In a separate report, the Sunday Times said the four directors had been ousted after they threatened to refuse to sign off the annual financial results in a row over the value of the company's property estate.

The newspaper said the four directors initially refused to sign off the accounts because they thought the figures should reflect a lower valuation of the company's property portfolio than was stated.

In the end the group agreed that a fresh, independent valuation would be carried out. 

The report said M&B, which runs the Harvester and All Bar One chains, saw the dispute as the latest stage in a deteriorating relationship with the four non-executives.