Australian brewer Foster's may still be in the hunt for the late Michael Erceg's Independent Liquor despite a report suggesting it had not bid by Wednesday's deadline.
A Foster's spokesman - clarifying remarks made by CEO Trevor O'Hoy on Wednesday - said yesterday O'Hoy had declined to say
whether Foster's had bid.
But he indicated Foster's remained "very interested" and "close to the process", and that it would need a new capital raising if it were to buy.
O'Hoy had expected it to be a fortnight before Foster's could say more.
The Australian Financial Review reported yesterday that Pacific Equity Partners and Nikko Principal Investments - said to be acting with Independent managers - had put in the highest bid of about $1.13 billion. It also said Lion Nathan and CCMP Capital had bid but did not mention any other names or provide a source for its information.
However, Foster's comments may imply that it and other players are not expecting a "blind auction", whereby a winning bid is simply selected from all those received.
One source indicated it was common during such sales to see ongoing negotiation over price and terms once bids had been received.
Another suggestion was that Lion would not come out the winner unless it paid a significant premium over others because it allegedly used aggressive tactics to try to frustrate Independent's market entry.
UBS - which is handling the sales process for Independent - had no comment on the AFR report or the process to be followed on receipt of the bids.
Lion also declined to comment, as did Diageo and DB Breweries, which have previously been rumoured to be considering a joint bid.
Despite not being named in the report, the fact Diageo and DB have not said they are no longer interested may indicate they are still hanging in there.
Meanwhile, an Australian analyst has been quoted as questioning whether Foster's buying Independent would actually add anything significant to its business.
There are also said to be questions about how serious any bid from CCMP might be.
A spokeswoman for Pacific Equity Partners said the firm would not comment, and calls to CCMP and Nikko had not been returned.
