Britain's Marks and Spencer to repel takeover with cashback offer

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2004

LONDON (AFP) — Troubled British retail giant Marks and Spencer will attempt to ward off an aggressive takeover bid by offering shareholders a sizeable cash sweetener package.

Stuart Rose, the new chief executive of the food and clothing chain, will pledge up to around 2 billion pounds (3 billion euros, 3.7 billion dollars) in cashback for shareholders, around one pound per share, newspapers said Sunday.

Rose is due to outline his vision for the future of the company on Monday, an event seen by analysts as crucial to attempts to see off repeated overtures from by retail billionaire Philip Green.

On Thursday, Marks and Spencer's board of directors rejected a third bid from Green, worth 9.1 billion pounds, but reports have suggested that shareholders are...