// One of Bonmarche’s major shareholders, Artemis Investment Management, sells stake
// It held a stake of over 12% in Bonmarche
// Philip Day now on track to take Bonmarche private
Philip Day is now on track to delist Bonmarche and make it private after the retailer’s last major shareholder sold its stake in the company.
Artemis Investment Management held a stake of over 12 per cent in Bonmarche.
The sale puts Day’s holding company, Spectre Holdings, above the required 75 per cent threshold to take the retailer private.
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The Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner had made a £5.7 million, or 11.4p-a-share, takeover offer for Bonmarche in early April.
Day had bought extra shares that increased his stake in the retailer to over 50 per cent – which prompted a mandatory takeover bid as per City rules.
Bonmarche initially rejected Spectre’s offer but in June, it did a u-turn and said it seemed “more attractive” after a period of poor trading in the first quarter.
Spectre then placed a July 12 deadline on its takeover offer.
Spectre now owns around 83 per cent of the company and will likely move to de-list it once the offer closes this week.
Under current rules, it would take 25 days and a shareholder vote for the company to de-list.
However, if more Bonmarche investors sell out to Spectre this week and push its holding above 90 per cent, the process could take 14 days.
Shares in Bonmarche were trading 5.8 per cent lower at 11.07p on Wednesday afternoon.
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