The Commerce Commission today said it had received an application from dairy giant Fonterra for clearance for its takeover bid for Australia's National Foods.
Fonterra has offered A$5.45 ($6.03) per share for National Foods, valuing it at A$1.6 billion. It already controls 19 per cent of the company.
The commission said itwould decide whether the takeover would reduce competition in New Zealand.
Yoplait-brand yoghurt and dairy foods are manufactured and sold in New Zealand by National Foods subsidiary International Fine Foods Ltd, which also operates an agency sales division handling the New Zealand retail sales of such leading brands as Leggo's, Plumrose and Edgells.
Meanwhile, Fonterra was yesterday forced to clarify comments about its bid made by chief executive Andrew Ferrier.
Mr Ferrier was reported as saying Fonterra "would not budge" on its bid price. Commentators say that could have been interpreted by the Australian Takeovers Panel as an indication Fonterra's bid was full and final, thereby running the risk of preventing it from upping its price.
National Foods has rejected the bid as too low and its shares traded as high as A$5.76 yesterday.
But Fonterra said Mr Ferrier's comments had been "misinterpreted".
"We reserve our right to vary any terms of the offer if that were something we wished to do," a Fonterra spokesman said yesterday in a statement.
"We believe that our offer, including its reasonable conditions, is generous and that shareholders will conclude that it represents their best outcome," he said.
Analysts expect Fonterra to lift its bid to around A$5.75.
