Raymarine‘s board has called on shareholders to reject Garmin‘s 15p-a-share takeover bid, according to our sister magazine IBI.

The shares have surged by more than 175 per cent, after electronics rival Garmin launched a takeover bid, but Raymarine has stated that it wants 17.5p a share.

The 15p-a-share offer, which values Raymarine at £12.5million, came after the companies returned to the bidding table this month, having previously broken off talks in December.

Since the offer Raymarine shares have increased from 5.95p to 16.5p, although that is still some way off the 152p per share price when the company first floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 2004 and its April 2007 peak of 490p per share.

The firm has suffered a sharp fall in demand during the recession and its last published net debt figure was £91.6million, which US-rival Garmin would pay as well.

The Raymarine board has previously cast doubts on Garmin’s ability to secure the necessary anti-trust approvals, but Garmin believes the two companies’ combined global market share would be below 30 per cent at which competition concerns tend to arise.