Singapore’s agribusiness Olam Agri increased its takeover bid for Australia’s Namoi Cotton to A$155.2 million ($104.36 million) on Friday, days after the cotton ginning firm backed a lower offer from a rival bidder.
The new offer is higher than rival bidder Louis Dreyfus Company’s (LDC) A$138 million bid. Olam Agri had previously offered nearly A$145 million for Namoi Cotton.
The affiliate of Olam Group OLAG.SI has been engaged in a bidding war with the Dutch commodities trader to take full control over Namoi.
On Wednesday, Namoi Cotton had asked its shareholders to accept LDC’s lower offer, as the Dutch firm’s bid had received nods from both Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Olam Agri is yet to receive the competition regulator’s approval for its bid.
“While the ACCC approval process has taken longer than anticipated, we remain confident… to win approval,” said Ashish Govil, managing director, Queensland Cotton for Olam Agri Australia.
The Singapore firm has proposed remedies including a gin divestment and a ProClass share divestment to the ACCC, Govil added.
LDC, Namoi’s second-largest shareholder, has increased its voting power in the Queensland-based company to 21.30% from 20.10%, an exchange filing showed on Friday.
($1 = 1.4872 Australian dollars)
Reuters
