Lost Coast Collective LLC, an active shareholder in Intertek Group plc with an approximate 1.2% stake, has formally urged the company's board to engage with EQT on its most recent take-private proposal of £60 per share.
In a letter delivered Tuesday, Lost Coast's chief executive Matthew Peltz wrote to Intertek directors arguing that EQT's proposal - which, when factoring in an expected dividend, equates to an effective valuation of £61.08 per share - represents a superior risk-adjusted alternative to the company's standalone approach.
The investor group said the board has rebuffed earlier EQT bids and has been pursuing strategic alternatives. Lost Coast contended, however, that the time for resisting EQT's offer has passed and that Intertek's own break-up-and-fix plan involves significant uncertainty and execution risk when compared with a straightforward cash buyout.
Lost Coast also pointed to the current market pricing of Intertek shares, noting that the stock is trading materially below EQT's bid levels. According to the letter, the existing share price implies a 17% discount to EQT's offer and suggests the market is valuing the board's break-up strategy in the mid-40s per share range.
Beyond the valuation gap, the shareholder group criticized Intertek's performance record under current leadership. Lost Coast stated that, over the past decade, the company failed to achieve organic growth at the pace of global GDP and that shareholders experienced absolute losses in the eight years prior to EQT's proposal, despite a broadly rising market.
The letter also took aim at the board's communication about its new business plan, saying that shareholders have been provided only a two-sentence summary without substantive information on timeframes, expected proceeds from asset dispositions, projected growth rates, margin improvement opportunities or cash flow conversion assumptions.
Lost Coast described itself in the letter as one of the largest active holders listed on Intertek's shareholder register and urged the board to engage with EQT to allow shareholders to evaluate the cash offer against management's alternative.
What this means
The correspondence highlights a clear split between an activist minority shareholder pressing for engagement with a bidder and the board's preference for pursuing internal strategic options. The dispute rests on valuation, execution risk and the level of detail the board has provided to the market.