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Affco Holdings' new venture Dairy Trust is launching a takeover bid for Waikato-based manufacturer of premium quality cheeses Open Country Cheese Company.
The creation of Dairy Trust, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Affco to develop, own and manage a small number of dairy plants, was announced in March.
Today, Affco said Dairy Trust intended to make a full offer for the shares in Open Country Cheese Company.
Open Country shareholders would be able to exchange Open Country shares for shares in Dairy Trust.
The offer valued the Open Country shares at their current market price of $2.25 per share, Affco said.
The deal would involve the issuing of 1.68 new Dairy Trust shares for each Open Country share acquired, at a value of $1.34 per Dairy Trust share.
The offer would be conditional on 50.1 per cent acceptance.
Under pre-bid agreements Talleys Fisheries, Dairy Investment Fund and Balle Bros Holdings, who between them owned 42.5 per cent of the shares in Open Country, had each agreed to sell all their Open Country shares to Dairy Trust under the offer.
As Talleys owned 50.01 per cent of the shares in Affco, the approval of the Affco shareholders was needed, with a vote to be held at a special meeting this month.
An appraisal report from Simmons Corporate Finance concluded the proposed takeover was fair and reasonable to Affco shareholders not associated with Talleys.
The offer is subject to Affco shareholder approval which was to be sought at a special meeting to be held later in May.
- NZPA
