Takeover Panel gives Green deadline to 'put up or shut up' over bid for M&S

Philip Green was handed an ultimatum by the Takeover Panel yesterday which said the retail entrepreneur must bid for Marks & Spencer by noon on 6 August or walk away.

Philip Green was handed an ultimatum by the Takeover Panel yesterday which said the retail entrepreneur must bid for Marks & Spencer by noon on 6 August or walk away.

The announcement was prompted by complaints from Citigroup, the investment banking adviser to M&S, which is unhappy with Mr Green's tactics of stalking M&S without making a formal offer.

In turn, Mr Green believes he is being frustrated from making a formal offer for the company by the intransigence of M&S in providing information for his due diligence process.

The Takeover Panel said: "Following discussions with both parties' advisers, the panel executive has ruled that Revival must, by 12 noon on Friday 6 August 2004, either announce an offer for M&S or announce that it will not proceed with an offer for M&S."

Mr Green has seen two proposed takeover offers rejected by the M&S board, the last one at "not less than 370p", valuing the company at £8.4bn. If Mr Green decides to walk away from M&S then he, or anyone acting with him, will be prohibited from bidding again for the company for six months.

Mr Green has been seeking information on the state of the M&S pension fund. On Friday, he appealed directly to the fund's trustees for information on the finances.

After the panel's ruling, Mr Green's bid vehicle Revival Acquisitions said it had received a letter from the trustees that said they would be meeting to consider their position regarding his request for information. The trustees, chaired by David Norgrove, will meet at lunchtime today.

Mr Green wants to know how much cash M&S is spending on funding the company's pension fund, which has a deficit of £670m. The company has injected £400m into the scheme through a bond issue. Revival said yesterday if M&S agreed a funding plan at the time of the bond issue it should be disclosed.

In response to Mr Green's requests that M&S disclose pension fund information, the retailer said: "The board of Marks & Spencer would like to reiterate that they rejected Revival's proposal of not less than 370p per share because it significantly undervalued the group. It has, therefore, not provided any of the information requested by Revival. All information on pensions relevant to Marks & Spencer and its shareholders is provided in the annual report and accounts for the year ended 3 April 2004. Revival has now made contact with the trustees and it is for them to decide on their response to Revival's requests."