JARDINE MATHESON PUTS IN 765P A SHARE OFFER FOR 10% OF JLT STOCK

London-listed business group Jardine Matheson is to tender a 765p a share, £166m ($262m) offer for 10% of the issued stock of broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), a near 25% premium to the 615p closing price on Wednesday night. If successful, the offer would bring Jardine Matheson’s stake in JLT to just over 40%. Jardine Matheson founded Jardine Insurance Brokers in the 1970s before spinning it off into a listing in 1991. The broker merged with Lloyd Thompson in 1997. Should more than 14.36% of the outstanding JLT stock be tendered for sale, JLT shareholders may see the amount that they can sell scaled down. The JLT board has recommended the offer unanimously, observing that the partial offer “combines the opportunity for a partial realization of shareholders’ investment at an attractive premium to the prevailing share price with the ability for shareholders to retain a substantial ongoing interest in the future of JLT”.