Walls are closing in on countrywide

Welcome to the house of fun. Yes, estate agent Countrywide, the home of full-on madness. Who knew Philip Bowcock, the former William Hill boss, was now involved in some sort of

consultancy-potential chief executive role? Or that Alchemy, the private equity firm trying to take control on the cheap, was doing such a good job at winding up the shareholders? Or that

chairman Peter Long had lost control of what happens next? Since he popped up four weeks ago with his “best result for all stakeholders” routine, investors have been doing their nut. His

result was a deal to hand control of the group to Alchemy at a cut-price 135p a share in return for it underwriting a £90 million cash injection. His justification? That if Countrywide, with

£90 million net debts, didn’t repay £50 million to lender Cross Ocean by next September the building would collapse. It was choice stuff from a man who had taken the chair in April 2016

with the shares at £105, sacked the former boss, taken executive control and tapped investors for £140 million for his “back to basics” turnaround. True, Mr Long had got the backing of 18.3

per cent investor Oaktree for his Alchemy fix: no surprise given it has a non-exec on the board, Caleb Kramer. But the other big three investors — Hosking Partners, now with 21 per cent

including family-held stock, Catalist (10.5 per cent) and Brandes (8.8 per cent) — hated the deal. Mr Long had presented it as the “only holistic solution for the group”: a phrase that fell

over once rival Connells pitched up ten days ago with a mooted 250p-a-share cash bid, valuing the owner of 60 brands including Bairstow Eves and Hamptons at £82 million. But that’s no way

out either. Hosking Partners, the kingmaker for any deal, doesn’t want to cash out at that price. And Connells, owned by the Skipton Building Society, can’t offer paper and thinks a reverse

takeover is a “non-starter”. To boot, Jeremy Hosking of the eponymous investor, says: “It feels as though the board is looking to shoehorn shareholders into an Alchemy-led transaction

without looking at other options in sufficient detail”. The Alchemy deal would have left investors with as little as a third of Countrywide, despite the buyout firm breezily telling them

that they saw £500 million of upside. So, no big shock they told Mr Long to get better terms out of Alchemy. His bizarre response, apparently? That they should thrash them out themselves

with the firm. Advertisement Worse, Mr Hosking says Alchemy attempted to make him an “insider” — unable to trade in Countrywide shares — until December 7: a “trap” in his view. He refused,

minutes before the firm planned to send him the terms of its “Alchemy 2” proposal. The upshot? A stalemate. Mr Hosking, who says the board’s not even done a “sum of the parts analysis”,

believes the best outcome would be a merger with a competitor, where investors can “roll forward their interest” and share synergies. But that looks a non-runner with Connells. And ask LSL

Property Services, which pulled an all-share bid in February, if it’s still interested and all it says is “no comment”. So, with Countrywide shares at 223p, is the best solution self-help: a

smaller capital raise plus asset sales? And could that be where Mr Bowcock takes charge? Or is he just doing the odds on all the possible outcomes? BT OPEN TO OFFERS If only BT’s former

management hadn’t spent so much time promising 10 per cent dividend growth, arguing with Ofcom and pretending souped-up copper wires were an alternative to full-fibre broadband. The telecoms

outfit might now be well on its way to morphing into a highly rated platform business, built on zippy broadband and mobile 5G: the go-to place for everything from sports streaming to cloud

computing. Instead BT boss Philip Jansen, who took charge in February last year, is further back than he’d like in delivering his BT vision. He can have no complaints on the mobile front: he

inherited the inspired £12.5 billion EE deal. But broadband wing Openreach? So far it’s reached 3.5 million premises: miles from his mid-2020s target of 20 million. Worse, suspending the

dividend to help fund the £12 billion rollout is one reason the shares are now £1 lower than where he came in. And questions keep getting asked over whether BT, valued at £12 billion, can

afford it. Hence, perhaps, his remark to an industry conference that he would “potentially” be “open-minded” at selling a “minority” stake in Openreach. Advertisement Analysts value the

broadband wing at about £20 billion, implying a massive value trap within BT. So could selling a small stake bring in funds and get the whole group re-rated? Maybe. But there’s no way Mr

Jansen could do that before Ofcom has ruled on BT’s allowed returns on its fibre rollout and the group’s completed the triennial review over its £9 billion pension deficit. So, not until

mid-2021 at the earliest. And, even then, the pension trustees might take a chunk of any proceeds. A stake sale is no easy fix. HANDBAGGING Would Mike Ashley’s life be enhanced by the

ownership of a Mulberry bag or two? Maybe an “Oversized Alexa”: ideal for carrying around pints or even as an alternative receptacle for his fireplace-puking routine. Otherwise it’s hard to

see why he’d need one. But that hasn’t stopped his Frasers group buying a 37 per cent stake en route to a possible bid — he’s been let off a mandatory one because Singaporean billionaire

Christina Ong owns 56 per cent. Apparently, it’s all part of Frasers’ “elevation strategy”. Sports Direct shoppers keep asking for Mulberry bags. [email protected]_