Brunswick has already bought a 3% stake in McAlpine as a springboard for a hostile takeover.
Brunswick chief Andrew Goodall, who returned to work on Tuesday from a two-week holiday, said he would ask for a meeting with McAlpine after the contractor rebuffed his second approach for the business, which valued it at 260p a share, or 拢265m.
McAlpine said it would reject any offer at 260p and complained that Brunswick had failed to give satisfactory evidence that it had secured adequate funding.
But property developer Andy Ruhan, who is backing Goodall with 拢8m, retorted: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what further evidence they could possibly want.鈥�
And Goodall said: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think their concern is funding now 鈥� it鈥檚 about what the company is worth.鈥� He also made his own complaint about access to information 鈥� due diligence procedures require access to high-level financial information about a company before a bid can be made. However, Goodall said he had been unable to make a formal bid for McAlpine until now because he had twice been denied access to the relevant data.
鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 want to commit to buying a company of this type without some serious checking of figures,鈥� he said.
Goodall would not rule out the option of simply continuing to buy McAlpine shares on the open market. He can acquire up to 29% of McAlpine before stock exchange rules require a full bid. 鈥淲e would not rule out any method at this stage,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 would say 鈥榣et the market decide鈥� because I think 260p is a fair price.鈥�
Goodall鈥檚 bid already has the support of 12% shareholder Phillips & Drew Fund Management and US institution Tweedy Browne, which has a 6% stake.
Goodall also commented that the drop in housing stocks caused by last week鈥檚 interest rate rise might persuade more investors to sell.
He added: 鈥淲e and McAlpine are still on friendly terms as far as I am concerned.鈥�
