Latest private equity’s raid on the stock market looks like buyout in which staff and shoppers will be an after-thought
The stock market is brutal and moves quickly to the main question. If 230p-a-share is not enough to persuade the directors of Morrisons to roll over and accept private equity’s money, what is?
The working assumption is that the “killing ground”, in the investment banker’s charming lingo, lies around the 260p mark – enough to allow the board to claim a stupendous uplift on last week’s 178p, and not too much to jeopardise Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s debt-heavy financial model. Morrisons’ closing share on Monday of 240p fits the script: the market expects a deal.
