&lt;Cityquest Plc>, a newly formed company,is making a recommended 120 mln stg offer for builders
merchants and DIY (do-it-yourself) company &lt;Wickes Plc>, Wickes
said in a statement.
    Undertakings to accept what is effectively a management
buyout have been accepted by holders of 88.9 pct of the shares.
    The statement said the offer was due to a decision by
Wickes International Corp, a member of the U.S. Wickes
Companies &lt;WIX.A> Inc group, which holds an 80.5 pct stake, to
realise much of its investment.
    The offer would enable Wickes to become fully independent
and once the bid succeeded all the Wickes directors would
become members of the Cityquest board.
    The offer will be of 345p cash for every Wickes share.
Wickes was last quoted at 345p compared with 275p at Friday's
close.
    Wickes shareholders will also have the option of taking one
Cityquest share or 205p in loan notes for every 205p of the
cash consideration.
    Henry Sweetbaum is chairman and chief executive of both
Cityquest and Wickes, and it was intended that Cityquest's name
would be changed to Wickes in due course.
    Wickes came to the U.K. Unlisted Securities Market in
January, 1986 with a capitalisation of about 96 mln stg.
    Cityquest has a fully paid share capital of one mln stg. S
G Warburg Securities has organised commitments from a group of
investors to subscribe for 65 mln stg in shares and 28.2 mln
stg in subordinated convertible loan stock. Lead investor is
Investors in Industry Plc
    Cityquest also has loan facilities of 30 mln stg.
 Reuter
