Three major investors in listed ferry operator Irish Continental Group (ICG) have substantially increased their shareholdings in the run-up to a vote on a €1.2 billion bid for the company by a management consortium led by veteran chief executive Eamonn Rothwell. Regulatory filings show that Pageant Investments has spent just over €6.3 million buying 900,000 ICG shares to bring its holding to 2.32 per cent. It has been buying stock at around the €7-a-share mark where the shares have been trading on the Dublin stock market over the past two days. Pageant has made public its opposition to the sale of ICG to Rothwell’s Bluefin Bidco entity for €8 a share. When contacted about the share buying, Pageant director Nick Furlong said: “We see a material upside at €7 a share, which is why we are buying. We will vote ‘no’ on the bid with these [additional] shares.” Meanwhile, Sretaw, businessman Eamon Waters’ investment vehicle, has taken its overall holding to 5 per cent. On Thursday it spent just under €12.6 million buying 1.8 million contracts for difference (CFDs) for a 1.2 per cent holding to add to the 3.8 per cent stake it holds via ordinary shares. Separately, London-based Sand Grove Capital Management has increased its stake in the business to 3.58 per cent from 2.61 per cent previously. On August 19th, it bought 1.1 million shares at €7.40 to leave it with 5.3 million shares in the business that operates Irish Ferries. This cost Sand Grove more than €8 million. Sand Grove describes itself as an “event-driven investor with a value-bias” and would be regarded as a supporter of a deal in the hope of getting a quick return on its investment.Sellers included FMR, an arm of global investor Fidelity, Wellington Management Group and Glazer Capital. On Thursday, the independent board of ICG warned investors that, based on proxy votes received to date, the offer was set to be rejected unless some shareholders change their voting intentions before an extraordinary general meeting on August 28th.To succeed, the offer requires 75 per cent of voting shareholders to approve the deal. The management team behind the buyout are precluded from casting their near 24 per cent combined shareholding in favour of the offer.Separately, Glass Lewis, a shareholder advisory group, has recommended that investors reject the €8-a-share offer from Bluefin Bidco. It said the offer “appears to have been struck at a low relative valuation”.ISS, another shareholder advisory group, had earlier recommended support for the €8-a-share offer, which was announced on July 24th. Oxy Capital, which holds a 1.4 per cent stake in ICG, also doubled down on its opposition to the deal on Thursday, again saying the offer undervalued the business and suggesting that the company’s profits be distributed to shareholders as a means of releasing capital.The €1.2 billion management buyout offer is led by chief executive Rothwell (71), who owns 21.7 per cent of the company, and senior executives David Ledwidge, Andrew Sheen and Declan Freeman, who hold a further 2 per cent of the stock between them.The offer would see shareholders paid €8 per share, a 28 per cent premium to the closing price of ICG’s stock on July 24th, an hour-and-a-half before the bid was announced.