OMERS consortium raises offer for U.K. utility

A consortium that includes Borealis Infrastructure has increased its offer to buy Severn Trent, the second-largest publicly traded water company in the United Kingdom to £5.3 billion ($8.4 billion).

Its bid of 2,200 pence per share is 3.5% higher than an earlier offer.

The consortium—which is made up of OMERS’s infrastructure arm Borealis, the Kuwait Investment Office, and the U.K.-based Universities Superannuation Scheme—calls itself LongRiver.

Read more: U.K. utility rejects bid by OMERS consortium

“LongRiver’s proposal of 2,200 pence per share in cash represents certain and compelling value for Severn Trent shareholders,” says Michael Rolland, president and CEO of Borealis. “We look forward to engaging with the Severn Trent board to enable us to make our formal offer to Severn Trent shareholders. Without engagement there can be no offer from the consortium.”

The consortium says its bid represents a premium of 21% to Severn Trent’s closing price on May 13, the day before the company announced it received a takeover offer.

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