Macfarlane Group has sold its 2.8m remaining shares in British Polythene Industries (BPI) for a 6.5m fee following the failure of its attempted hostile takeover (PrintWeek, 8 December 2000).


"We had an offer for our shares at 2.30 per share from institutions, which was basically too good to turn down," said Macfarlane Group chief executive Iain Duffin.


He said that the net proceeds would mainly be used to reduce debt.


The gain of just over 200,000 on the deal will be reported in the companys second-half results.


"After our bid was rejected we disposed of some 40% of shares in the tender offer," said Duffin, who referred to this latest deal as a way of "tidying up" the companys interests.


Duffin said that the company had invested its finances from the sale of tender offer shares in National Packaging, which it bought in a 21.7m deal in April this year.


Macfarlane, which had been BPIs largest shareholder, launched its hostile takeover bid in September of last year, and was finally defeated in December.


The unsuccessful bid left Macfarlane facing costs of over 4m.


Upon disposal of the shares, BPI issued a declaration stating that Hermes Administration Services had notified the company that it had taken a non-material interest acquiring some 2.6m shares, representing 9.92% of BPIs ordinary share capital.


Story by Andy Scott