German group BayWa Aktiengesellschaft has extended its takeover offer for New Zealand agribusiness Turners & Growers (T&G) for a further month until 7 March, with a corresponding extension of the date it can declare the bid unconditional to 6 April.
The extension is likely aimed at bringing in smaller shareholders, who have not shown a great deal of interest in BayWa’s NZ$1.85 per share offer.
BayWa currently holds a 70.8 per cent stake in T&G, according to a filing with the New Zealand stock exchange today.
The company is unlikely to push its holding up to the 90 per cent required for an automatic buyout of minority shareholders, with at least two able to keep BayWa from that target.
“Obviously the company will remain listed,” T&G’s managing director Jeff Wesley told Asiafruit last week. “Noboa, our banana partners, have no intention of selling their shares, which are 12.3 per cent, and Mr Apple appears to have gained rights to shares up to 10 per cent.”
Mr Apple, New Zealand’s largest apple grower-packer-marketer, currently holds a 5.95 per cent stake in T&G through its parent company Scales, and has secured the option to buy a further 4.03 per cent stake.
BayWa has previously said it is happy to go ahead with less than a total holding in T&G.
The buyout is ultimately dependent now on approval from New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Board.
“We currently expect to get approval from the Overseas Investment Office in the second week of February,” Wesley predicted.
T&G’s share price closed at NZ$1.77 on Tuesday, 8 cents lower than BayWa’s offering.
