Rightmove holds its nerve: property website must launch ‘pacman’ defence against Murdoch’s raiders, says ALEX BRUMMER

Until recently, there was an annoying habit of boards of British companies quickly giving up when faced with takeovers by foreign investors or private equity firms.

Cost-hungry investment banks are said to be warning that not accepting seemingly generous offers would constitute a breach of fiduciary duty.

There has been a welcome change in attitude. Several major listed companies, including electronics retailer Currys, insurer Direct Line, miner Anglo American and engineering firm John Wood Group, have seen predators off the battlefield.

So far, Andrew Fisher, chairman of online property site Rightmove, has refused to bow to the flatteries of the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Rea Group, which is showing cool in the face of a £6.1bn cash and shares offer.

Only Royal Mail’s owner, International Distribution Services, has attempted to sell itself to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and colleagues, amid regulatory interference.

There are good reasons for boards and shareholders to remain steadfast. Most takeover bids are a matter of price, with large battalion-long investors and hedge funds new to the stock market eager to make a profit and more.

The plight of the workforce, the impact of debt and the public interest are rarely overlooked. We recently learned that generous bonuses are rarely what they seem.

The discount of London-listed stocks to some of their peers means assets have been snapped up cheaply. The weakness of the pound has also been a consideration.

Furthermore, as has been shown in the case of Asda, for example, it has been shown that when leverage is involved, the outcomes are rarely positive.

Rea’s bid for Rightmove is odd. After all, the UK housing market is three times the size of Australia, where Rea’s bid comes from.

However attractive it may be for Murdoch’s interests – who control 62 per cent of Rea – to consume Rightmove and thus gain a larger footprint, logic dictates that Fisher and his board launch the ‘pacman’ defence in which the prey eats the predator.

The failure to do so reflects a lack of confidence and ambition among UK-listed companies, even in the online commerce sector, where the UK has a major influence through banks such as Revolut and retailers such as Next.

Rea says it can provide skills to Rightmove that it does not have itself, including advanced data services and access to mortgage markets.

Expertise in both would be open to a British company willing to invest. That means convincing shareholders, who are quick to step in, that there is a lot of value to be unlocked in the long term.

Deals don’t have to be done. There will be setbacks. As we report today, Anglo American shares have not done well since it showed Australian miner BHP the door.

BHP has the option to come back in November. Resetting a complex mining giant takes time and Anglo American is too important to South Africa and the London Stock Exchange to be sacrificed. UK plc must hold its nerve.

Border dispute

Before the great financial crisis, cross-border banking was thought to be one of the greatest advantages of the European Union.

We know how badly that ended. The takeover of the Dutch ABN Amro by Royal Bank of Scotland was the most expensive mistake a British bank has ever made.

HSBC’s move into private banking by buying the Safra banks, including Republic New York, turned out to be an embarrassing mistake that has still not been resolved.

In the Benelux, Fortis was one of the biggest victims of the banking crisis in 2008.

Given this history, it is not surprising that there is concern about UniCredit’s current attempt to buy Germany’s Commerzbank. Getting a foothold in Germany might seem like a brilliant idea.

But an American investment banker in London recently dismissed the idea of ​​going there. German investors fear that in the event of problems in Italy’s often unstable economy, resources would always be focused on local clients. German clients could become secondary.

There are particular concerns that a merger between the two banks could hamper lending to Germany’s dynamic SME sector.

Experience shows that cultural differences are hard to bridge. Andrea Orcel, former boss of dealmaker UBS, now at the helm of UniCredit, has unfulfilled ambitions. That is not a good reason for a deal.