WILLIAMS HOLDINGS BIDS 542.2 MLN STG FOR NORCROS Industrial holding company Williams Holdings Plc said it was bidding 542.2 mln stg for the ordinary shares of building products and packaging group Norcros Plc. The offer would be made on the basis of 29 new Williams shares for every 50 in Norcros, or 432.7p a share Norcros shares firmed to 410p at 0914 GMT from a close last night of 397p. A statement by Williams said it was confident of the merits of the proposed merger and it had therefore taken care to propose from the outset the right terms, including a full cash alternative. The offer will include a partial convertible alternative under which shareholders would receive up to a total of 205.69 mln new second convertible shares in Williams instead of their ordinary share allocations. The offer for Norcros preferential shares offers one Williams preferential share for each one of Norcros, for a value of 130p each and a total of 2.9 mln stg. Last week Williams reported that pretax profits for 1986 rose to 22.9 mln stg from 6.3 mln. Speculation about a bid for Norcros had been circulating in the market for several months, dealers said. Initially it centred on <Bunzl Plc>, which once held a 2.6 pct stake, then switched to Williams when it began accumulating shares. Earlier this year, Williams suggested holding talks with Norcros on a possible merger but was rebuffed by Norcros which replied that any benefits that could be achieved could also result from normal trading. In the six months to end-September, Norcros reported a rise in pretax profits to 20.14 mln stg from 18.55 mln on turnover that lifted to 311.82 mln from 303.91 mln Williams Holdings began expanding from 1982 when it had a market capitalisation of around one mln stg. A series of acquisitions in the next four years has pushed its capitalisation up to around 380 mln. The convertible offer would be on the basis of four Williams convertibles for every Norcros share, worth 428p a share. The cash alternative would offer the equivalent of 400.2p a share. The announcement of the bid pushed Williams share price down to 733p from last night's close at 750p. Williams said it held a total 850,000 shares in Norcros, or 0.7 pct, while an associate held a further 1.99 mln or 1.6 pct. There was no immediate response from Norcros.