London’s FTSE 250 was up 1% at 22,978.61 in afternoon trade on Monday.
GCP Student Living surged to the top of the index after saying late on Friday that it had received a series of non-binding proposals from a consortium of Scape Living and iQSA Holdco, and is currently in discussions with them.
Berenberg said an offer range of 190p to 230p was likely. “The consortium has until 5pm on 30 July to announce a firm intention to make an offer for GCP Student,” it said.
“If an offer is made, like recent transactions in the UK real estate sector, we would expect it to be made at a level in excess of GCP Student’s last reported NTA of 179p and our 183p June 2021 NAV forecast.
“Applying the current P/NAV of PBSA sector-leader Unite to our June 2021 NAV forecast would result in a value of circa 230p, the maximum likely in our opinion due to Unite’s superior scale, operating platform and earnings efficiency.”
Morrisons also rose sharply after US buyout firm Apollo Global Management said it was considering entering the race for the supermarket chain after rival Fortress tabled a £6.3bn recommended bid on the weekend.
On the downside, Spire Healthcare was in the red even as Australia’s Ramsay Health Care sweetened its offer for the private hospital operator to 250p a share from 240p.
FTSE 250 – Risers
GCP Student Living (DIGS) 190.60p 12.65%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 266.50p 11.13%
SSP Group (SSPG) 298.40p 5.07%
Volution Group (FAN) 440.50p 4.26%
Herald Investment Trust (HRI) 2,435.00p 4.06%
FirstGroup (FGP) 88.85p 4.04%
Airtel Africa (AAF) 82.30p 3.85%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 86.86p 3.60%
easyJet (EZJ) 954.40p 3.36%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 1,275.00p 3.32%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Pennon Group (PNN) 1,172.40p -30.86%
Micro Focus International (MCRO) 431.90p -2.09%
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 1,357.00p -1.92%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 408.00p -1.69%
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 243.50p -1.62%
Helios Towers (HTWS) 163.60p -1.56%
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,156.00p -1.53%
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,608.00p -1.45%
Homeserve (HSV) 954.00p -1.34%
Drax Group (DRX) 419.00p -1.18%
