HONG KONG – After four months of fierce bidding between two Asian tycoons, a multibillion-dollar battle for control of Fraser Neave appears to have reached its denouement.
A bidding deadline on Monday evening set by Singapore’s takeover regulator came and went, meaning the victor will probably be TCC Assets, controlled by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi of Thailand. It raised its offer on Friday to 9.55 Singapore dollars a share, valuing Fraser Neave at 13.76 billion dollars ($11.19 billion).
That was apparently enough to chase away a counteroffer by Overseas Union Enterprise, which is part of the Indonesian billionaire Mochtar Riady’s Lippo Group and is led by Mr. Riady’s son Stephen.
Overseas Union had entered the contest for Fraser Neave in November, when it bid 9.08 dollars a share.
Under the terms of the auction process — mandated last week by the takeover regulator, Securities Industry Council, and intended to remove uncertainty for shareholders — Overseas Union had until 6 p.m. on Monday in Singapore to submit an increased offer.
Had it done so, TCC Assets would have had 24 hours to counter, and the auction process would have continued in this manner until one of the parties failed to submit a counteroffer.
In a statement after the deadline passed, Overseas Union confirmed it had not made a new bid, saying that in order to succeed it “would need to significantly increase the offer price to a level which is no longer as attractive to Overseas Union, in particular, given the potential impact of the recent measures taken by the Singapore government in relation to the property market.”
Fraser Neave, established in 1883 to sell carbonated drinks in Southeast Asia, owns businesses that include beverages, shopping centers and full-service apartments. In September, the company agreed to sell its controlling stake in Asia Pacific Breweries, the maker of Tiger Beer, to Heineken in a deal worth $4.6 billion.
TCC Assets already owned a 30 percent stake in Fraser Neave, and in September made an initial takeover bid for the company at 8.88 dollars a share. Since then, TCC Assets has increased its stake to 40 percent. The Thai company’s revised bid on Friday represented a 5.2 percent premium to the offer submitted by Overseas Union in November.
The passing of Monday’s deadline without a new bid from Overseas Union means shareholders are likely to favor the higher offer from TCC Assets when they eventually vote on the deal. A vote has yet to be scheduled.
Investors in Fraser Neave have been bullish about a bidding war for the last few months. On Monday, an hour before the bidding deadline, the stock closed at a record high of 9.74 dollars. That was up 1.7 percent from the closing price on Friday and above any of the takeover bids that had been announced up to the end of the trading day.
Overseas Union is being advised by Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and C.I.M.B. of Malaysia. TCC Asset’s advisers are the United Overseas Bank, DBS of Singapore and Morgan Stanley.
Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/11-2-billion-thai-bid-poised-to-win-singapore-conglomerate/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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