Shares in corporate travel group Hogg Robinson (HRG) shot up more than 48 per cent on the morning of Friday 9 February after it revealed it had received a takeover offer. It has recommended the offer from GBT – which trades as American Express Global Business Travel – and has a conditional agreement with Visa to sell Fraedom, its payments business, for £141.8m.
The two deals are not contingent on one another, but the sale of Fraedom would boost the consideration received by shareholders to 120p a share, from 110p without. If the takeover does not happen, management said proceeds from the sale of Fraedom could be invested in the group’s remaining businesses, paid to the group’s indebted UK pension scheme or returned to shareholders “as appropriate”.
