RETIREMENT homes builder McCarthy & Stone, which has developments locally, has rebuffed a bid from its chairman and founder John McCarthy to take the firm private.

As reported in the Daily Echo last week, Mr McCarthy approached colleagues with plans for a possible family buyout of the Bournemouth based operation earlier this month.

Shares, which climbed from 453.5p to 530p after the company announced just over ten days ago that it had received a potential takeover approach, sank five per cent or 26.5p to 477.5p after the announcement this week.

Although the value of the approach has not been disclosed, reports said the family may have considered offering as much as 630p a share which would have valued the company at £656m.

But a spokesman for the group said: "It didn't reflect the right value for the company.''

The fall in the shares was softened by a trading update which said that completions in the financial year so far are currently 23 per cent ahead of those at the same point last year with average selling prices up 19 per cent.

McCarthy and Stone said that it was confident about its prospects for the current financial year, which ends on August 31, despite the prospect of a less buoyant housing market in July and August.