Sept 13 (Askume) – Singapore agribusiness Olam Agri (IPO-OLAA.SI) on Friday raised its bid for Australia’s Namoi Cotton (NAM.AX) to A$155.2 million ($104.36 million), almost a day after the cotton ginning company backed down from a lower purchase price offer from a rival.
The new offer is higher than a bid of A$138 million from Dutch commodity trader Louis Dreyfus (LDC). Olam Agri had previously offered about A$145 million to acquire Namoi Cotton.
Namoi Cotton shares rose 3.7%, while the broader benchmark ASX 200 index (.AXJO) gained 0.8%.
Affiliates of Olam Group (OLAG.SI) have been in a bidding war with LDC for full control of Namoi.
On Wednesday, Namoi Cotton asked its shareholders to accept LDC’s lower offer, which has been supported by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Olam Agriculture’s bid has not yet been approved by the competition regulator.
“Although the ACCC approval process is taking longer than expected, we are confident… that approval will be granted,” Ashish Govil, Olam Agri Australia’s Queensland cotton managing director, said.
Govil said the Singapore company had proposed remedies to the ACCC that included divestment of its Gin and Proclass shares.
Namoi Cotton said she was considering both proposals.
David Blennerhassett said: “The increase (in Olam Agri quotations) does not change the ACCC application process. It is a strategy to prevent investors from participating in the LDC quotations and/or buying the LDC in the market at or near its quoted price.
An exchange filing on Friday showed that Namoi’s second-largest shareholder LDC increased its voting rights in the Queensland company from 20.10 per cent to 21.30 per cent.
Its largest shareholder, Samuel Terry Asset Management, said in a statement that it intends to accept Oran Agriculture’s revised offer in the absence of a better offer.
(USD 1 = AUD 1.4872)
