Candover gets interest in full sale, minority stake

By Simon Meads

LONDON (Reuters) - Private equity group Candover Investments Plc (CDI.L) said it had received approaches to acquire the company outright or to buy a minority stake as it looks to salvage the value in its investment portfolio.

"Clearly Candover is not in good shape and I and your board apologize for that," chairman Gerry Grimstone told the group's AGM.

He said the company had received several expressions of interest, ranging from proposals to acquire it for cash or for a mixture of cash and shares to plans for third parties to take a minority stake.

Grimstone added that all the approaches were still subject to due diligence, and there was no guarantee on any particular outcome.

Candover said in March it was no longer in a position to invest in its own 2008 fund, throwing the future of the firm into doubt. The firm had previously pledged to put 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) into its planned 5 billion euro fund.

"To sell out at the bottom of the market is probably a mistake," said one shareholder from the floor. "The upside seems to me to be considerable."

The view was echoed by past chairman Stephen Curran who said closer attention should have been paid to stress testing the company's covenants and could have allowed the board to launch a rights issue earlier and at a higher share price.

Candover shares had lost 97 percent of their value by the end of March, before staging a recovery in April. They stood 2.3 percent lower at 291 pence at 11:09 a.m. EDT.