Liontrust has prolonged the deadline for its proposed takeover of Gam for the third time, a day after the Swiss fund manager urged investors to back the bid.

Having been due to conclude today, the main offer period is now set to close at 4pm on 23 August, almost a month after the original deadline of 25 July and following two previous extensions.

London-listed Liontrust has conditionally agreed to buy GAM in a £96million deal that would create a business holding £53billion of assets under management, and widen its fund range and asset class offering.

More than 80 per cent of the company’s shareholders approved the prospective transaction at a general meeting four weeks ago.

On Thursday, GAM called on its shareholders to vote for the acquisition at the same time that the firm revealed half-year underlying pre-tax losses accelerated to 22.5 million Swiss francs.

Chairman David Jacobs said the results ‘demonstrate the challenges which GAM faces, which are among the reasons why the board continues to recommend the Liontrust offer’.

But the takeover is being held up by several GAM investors, including Geneva-based financial adviser Bruellan and investment vehicle NewGAMe, which is backed by French telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel.

They claim the deal is lopsided, ‘undervalues’ GAM, and would not bring stability given Liontrust’s share price performance over the past couple of years.

Liontrust Asset Management shares have slumped by around two-thirds during that time as investors pull cash out of riskier funds. 

They were 1.3 per cent, or 8p, down at 619p on early Friday afternoon.

NewGAMe and Bruellan, who collectively own a 9.6 per cent stake in GAM, have put forward an alternative partial offer to buy 28 million GAM shares for £13.7million.

They released a ‘100-day plan for the GAM turnaround’ yesterday, which includes a capital injection of 25 million Swiss francs, appointing a new board and bringing the cost structure in line with assets under management.

John Ions, the chief executive of Liontrust, has responded with a letter to NJJ, the ultimate controller of NewGAMe via Rock Investments, describing the blueprint as ‘anything but a detailed proposition‘.

He claimed that GAM needs a minimum investment of 200 million Swiss francs in order to rebound to profitability and said Liontrust had been unable to have a ‘direct conversation’ with NewGAMe’s associates.

Ions went on to say that the offer period extension would give GAM shareholders the opportunity to ‘make a straight choice’ on the two proposals.

Facebook has ‘banned’ a women’s hygiene company from using the words period, vulva and clitoris in its anti-stigma campaign.

Bodyform, one of the UK’s leading sanitary towel makers, posted a video on the social media platform last week showing members of the public being quizzed on the meaning of terms related to women’s health.

But Facebook said ads on its site must not promote ‘sexual and reproductive health products or services’, which Bodyform claimed amounted to being told that the video is ‘too sexual’.

Facebook said Bodyform’s ad campaign, which mentioned words related to women’s health that are usually censored online, was ‘targeted to people aged 18 and older’. 

Twitter also banned the content but it was successfully posted on both TikTok and YouTube. 

Bodyform tried to post the 98-second clip to Facebook last week which featured words such as clitoris and vulva.

The campaign aimed to ‘reclaim censored words’ to normalise language around women’s health. 

Research conducted by Bodyform found that over half of British women don’t feel comfortable saying these words to their doctors, and eight in ten feel uncomfortable using terms relating to their health on social media. 

But 30 minutes after attempting to upload the video, both Facebook and Twitter had rejected it.

Facebook doubled down by saying that if Bodyform’s ads breach their advertising standards again, it may result in the account being disabled or restricted.

An automated notification sent to Bodyform said: ‘Ads must not promote the sale or use of adult products or services.

‘Ads promoting sexual and reproductive health products or services, such as contraception and family planning, must be targeted to people aged 18 and older, and must not focus on sexual pleasure.’

However, Bodyform successfully uploaded it after a second attempt and spelling the words creatively in its caption with symbols, so they read ‘V@g!na’, ‘Vul\/a’ and ‘Cl!t0r!s’.

Twitter removed the post also without giving any reason. 

Bodyform has reached out to the social media platform to ask why. 

However, TikTok featured the company’s video and it has since racked up more than 340,000 views. It is also on YouTube, where it has had around 1,000 views.

A spokesman for Essity, the manufacturer of Bodyform, said language around women’s health and bodies ‘shouldn’t be censored’. 

They added: ‘It makes important subjects that some already consider taboo almost impossible to talk about.

‘Periods are a natural part of day-to-day life for women of all ages. Anatomically or medically correct words shouldn’t be censored and certainly shouldn’t be labelled as an adult product or service by social media platforms.’

MailOnline has approached Facebook, owner Meta and Twitter for a comment. 

Bodyform’s campaigns have previously triggered controversy. It’s 2022 TV campaign featuring a bloody sanitary towel was the most complained about ad of 2022, according to the The Advertising Standards Authority.