SINGAPORE - TCC Assets, the family company of Thai whiskey magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, yesterday extended for the fourth time a deadline for its S$8.8 billion bid for full control of the Singapore property, publishing and food and beverage conglomerate Fraser & Neave.
The closing date for the S$8.88 a share bid now falls on Jan 2, a day before a higher bid of S$9.08 per share by Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) - controlled by Indonesia's Riady family - is due to expire.
Under Singapore's Code on Takeovers and Mergers, an offer normally has to be finalised within 60 days of the initial offer, which in TCC's case was Sept 13.
But the Securities Industry Council has the authority to grant an extension in special circumstances, such as when a competing bid is made, and it has been about one and a half months since OUE made its rival bid.
What surprised many market observers was that there was no attempt by the Thais to better OUE's offer, thereby making it unlikely that any other F&N shareholder will sell his stake to TCC.
TCC, together with its listed vehicle Thai Beverage, is F&N's largest shareholder with a 35.68-per-cent stake, inclusive of 2.02 per cent in acceptances that becomes ownership only after the 50-per-cent mark is achieved.
"What's the point of extending the deadline without upping the OUE offer? And how will OUE respond to the extension?" asked an exasperated shareholder, who said both offers were inadequate.
Many think the bid for F&N has to be at least S$9.50 a share before new acceptances come in.
The independent advisers to F&N's board have found TCC's offer "not compelling, though fair".
Nomura Securities analyst Lim Jit Soon, who has a target price of S$10.48 on F&N, thinks that OUE could bid as high as S$9.88 a share.
Japanese beer maker Kirin Holdings, which has a 14.8-per-cent stake in F&N, has agreed to tender its shares to OUE, which is largely focused on office and hotel ownership and development. Kirin has also offered to buy over F&N's food and beverage business for S$2.7 billion should the Riadys succeed.
Article above taken from TODAYonline. Article by Conrad Raj
Showing posts with label Chang Beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chang Beer. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
APB, Thai Beverage, Heineken, F&N, Coca- Cola and Kirin
Seems like this is a complicated one. The dateline is on 3rd Aug for F&N to reply to Heineken's offer for the 40% stake in APB.
First of all, it started when OCBC, Great Eastern and Lee Rubber decided to sell its stakes in F&N (22%) amd APB(8.6%) to Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Obviously this does not rest well with Heineken.
Heineken has no obvious interest in the other parts of F&N save the brewery side and has made an offer of $50 for F&N's stake in APB. The offer is not conditional upon any due diligence or financing. Just subjected to the Boards recommendation to shareholders, shareholder approval and regulatory approval (if any). The offer will be extended to the APB minority shareholders as well. Currently F&N owns 40% of APB and Heineken owns 42%.
To complicate matters, Kirin Holdings (2503.T) owns 14.7% of F&N. and Mr Charoen is currently amassing shares in F&N raising his stake to 24.1% (as of 31st July 2012). This translates to roughly 40% of voting shares in F&N. I have not seen any Japanese firms giving up on overseas assets especially as growth is slowing down in Japan and where Kirin is involved, they are more likely to acquire than divest. Mr Charoen has made his decision obvious by trying to amass more shares in F&N to make sure they do not divest their stakes in APB.
Rumours are also flying that maybe Coca-cola will make a bid for the soft drink assets of F&N.
However as I look at this, I am not confident Heineken will get their hands on APB so easily. I am abit sceptical when there are cornerstone investors like Kirin, whom will not likely want to change status quo, and Mr Charoen, who just got his hands on F&N and APB shares. Unless a deal is done where these players can roll their interest into the new company, very likely nothing will happen.
I was actually tempted to short APB but have kept myself out of this. Lets see the verdict tomorrow.
First of all, it started when OCBC, Great Eastern and Lee Rubber decided to sell its stakes in F&N (22%) amd APB(8.6%) to Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Obviously this does not rest well with Heineken.
Heineken has no obvious interest in the other parts of F&N save the brewery side and has made an offer of $50 for F&N's stake in APB. The offer is not conditional upon any due diligence or financing. Just subjected to the Boards recommendation to shareholders, shareholder approval and regulatory approval (if any). The offer will be extended to the APB minority shareholders as well. Currently F&N owns 40% of APB and Heineken owns 42%.
To complicate matters, Kirin Holdings (2503.T) owns 14.7% of F&N. and Mr Charoen is currently amassing shares in F&N raising his stake to 24.1% (as of 31st July 2012). This translates to roughly 40% of voting shares in F&N. I have not seen any Japanese firms giving up on overseas assets especially as growth is slowing down in Japan and where Kirin is involved, they are more likely to acquire than divest. Mr Charoen has made his decision obvious by trying to amass more shares in F&N to make sure they do not divest their stakes in APB.
Rumours are also flying that maybe Coca-cola will make a bid for the soft drink assets of F&N.
However as I look at this, I am not confident Heineken will get their hands on APB so easily. I am abit sceptical when there are cornerstone investors like Kirin, whom will not likely want to change status quo, and Mr Charoen, who just got his hands on F&N and APB shares. Unless a deal is done where these players can roll their interest into the new company, very likely nothing will happen.
I was actually tempted to short APB but have kept myself out of this. Lets see the verdict tomorrow.
Monday, July 23, 2012
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