Counter-hostility as defensive strategy in a hostile takeover: The acquisition of Hillards supermarket chain by Tesco

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map showing the distribution of Hillards and Tesco stores in 1986. Produced by Tesco in Tesco Company Review page 5, 1986 (the colour of the dots representing Hillards stores was changed from light grey to purple for visual clarity).

Figure 2. Timeline of key events. Focusing on the period of the takeover (with some additional events at the start) this figure shows the timing of key events during the defence. Including the publication of defence documents and important milestones in Tesco’s acquisition of shares.

Table 1. Summary of shareholders, 3 May 1986.⁵⁶

Summary	%	No.
Directors	9.07	4,477,482
Family	9.93	4,901,365
Friends	0.5	246,129
Mrs Ada Hillard	6.51	3,121,824
C.W. Hillard, Jnr	0.2	100,000
Staff	0.75	371,979
Jobbers	0.46	225,242
Nominee Holdings	0.48	234,026
Institutional	25.83	12,748,636
Pension Funds	34.25	16,905,119
Others	12.02	5,934,470
	100	49,266,272

Table 2. Institutional shareholders with over 800,000 shares calculated on 3 May 1986.⁵⁷

Holdings of 800,000+	No.
Barclays Nominees Ltd	900,000
Colonial [illegible] Life Assurance	1,420,000
Greater London Council	800,000
Kingman Nominees Ltd	1,122,000
Pearl Assurance Co Ltd	1,377,568
Prudential Assurance Co Ltd	800,000
Witan Investment Co PLC	1,150,000
	7,569,568

Figure 3. Acquisition of Hillards’ Shares by Tesco (data sourced from the Financial Times).