Sir Michael Bibby wins the Business Person of the Year Award at this year's Liverpool Daily Post Regional Business Awards

CONVENIENCE store group Nisa-Today’s today said it had rejected an offer from Liverpool-based Bibby.
Bibby Line Group, which owns a 51% stake in Costcutter, planned to boost its holding to 100% and had offered to acquire rival Nisa-Today’s.
But its target rejected the offer and told members that the deal would have been a “significant undervaluation” of the business.
A statement from Nisa-Today’s said: “In the board’s view, the approach represented a significant undervaluation of Nisa-Today’s and would have meant the demutualisation of the company.
“The board has made shareholders aware of this development.
“However, the approach received has been rejected outright and it continues to be very much business as usual for Nisa-Today’s.”
Bibby expressed disappointment at the failure of the bid and said it would have created the largest integrated distributor to independent shops in the UK.
Managing director Sir Michael Bibby said the tie-up would have had “many mutual benefits”.
“This was a generous deal for Nisa shareholders and we are surprised it was rejected without the offer being put to members,” he said.
“In the current difficult economic environment, Bibby Retail Services feels many shopkeepers would be interested in discussing the merits of having access to cash and being part of a stronger and integrated retail group.”
All three firms are strongly linked.
Scunthorpe-based Nisa-Today’s acts as a co-operative using the buying power of the group of members to negotiate deals with suppliers.
Bibby provides distribution services to it, while Costcutter is part of the buying group.
Nisa-Today’s has around 900 members, 5,000 stores and 270 depots and Costcutter has more than 1,500 outlets in its franchise network.