The Lookers board is working hard to convince Reg Vardy’s shareholders not to accept Pedragon’s offer of a three-way merger, which it announced this morning.

Lookers stated the benefits of acquiring Reg Vardy would be ‘diluted’ if the three dealer groups formed a ‘super dealer’.

In a statement this afternoon, Lookers said: “Pendragon’s approach to Lookers occurred shortly after Lookers’s interest in Reg Vardy became public. Prior to this Pendragon had never expressed any interest in an acquisition of Lookers. It should be emphasised that Pendragon has not announced a firm intention to make an offer for Lookers and there is no certainty that such an offer will be made by Pendragon.”

Pendragon announced this morning it would keep its previous offer of 800p per share for Reg Vardy, while it also offered a share exchange for the entire share capital of Lookers at 1.15 new Pendragon shares for every Lookers share.