Other parties sniff round F&P

German appliance giant Bosch is understood to be looking at either purchasing a blocking stake in - or potentially making a rival bid for - the Kiwi company. File photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Chairman won't reveal companies but says approaches are more than just 'tyre kicking'

Fisher & Paykel Appliances chairman Keith Turner says Haier's takeover bid for the whiteware maker has prompted "credible approaches" from other interested parties.

German appliance giant Bosch is understood to be looking at either purchasing a blocking stake in - or potentially making a rival bid for - the Kiwi company.

Darryl Robinson, general manager of Bosch Siemens Home Appliances in New Zealand, declined to comment on the matter yesterday.

Turner would not reveal which companies were showing an interest in F&P Appliances, or what their intentions might be.

Haier is proposing to offer $1.20 per share for the 80 per cent of the stock it does not already own. "These circumstances generally give rise to a wide range of interests ... whether [interested parties] end up making an offer that's of significance or not is entirely uncertain," Turner said.

Turner said the approaches were more than just "tyre kicking".

Earlier in the week market commentator Arthur Lim said Haier would become an even more formidable force if it owned 100 per cent of the New Zealand company. That would "certainly be of concern to some other white goods competitors our there", he said.

F&P Appliances said yesterday that it had appointed Grant Samuel as independent adviser to prepare a report on the proposed offer. Its shares closed up up 1.3 per cent at $1.18.