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F&N

Charoen's bid hangs in the air

Achara Deboonme

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's bid to take control of Singapore's Fraser and Neave (F&N) is apparently hanging in the air.

TCC Assets Co Ltd, a company linked to him which launched the 8.8 billion Singapore dollar (US$7.2 billion) bid for F&N, yesterday did not make any announcement whether it would extend the bid deadline from Oct 29. There was also no report if it would consider raising the buyout offer of $8.88 per share, following the reported counter bid by Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE) - a property firm controlled by Indonesia’s Lippo Group.

Charoen's offer of S$8.88 a share is at the low end of the adviser's estimates that value the company at S$8.30 to S$11.22 a share, F&N board said on Oct 9. F&N directors who hold shares currently do not intend to accept the billionaire's offer, the board said.

Reuters reported earlier that OUE has hired Credit Suisse as an adviser to help arrange billions of dollars in loans to launch a rival bid for F&N. The report followed confirmation from OUE on Oct 19 that it was in discussions with certain parties and is "considering all options with respect to F&N, including an offer for F&N shares."

Thai Beverage and TCC Assets collectively own nearly 34 per cent of the drinks and property group.

The Thai group had lined up loans of $11.8 billion to bid for F&N, initially raising funds to buy a 22percent stake and raising more from bridge loans to bid for the entire firm.

The fight for F&N’s businesses has shifted to the group’s property portfolio, worth more than S$8 billion ($6.56 billion), after F&N agreed last month to sell its nearly 40 percent stake in Tiger beer maker Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd to Heineken.

The hospitality business is part of F&N's property unit, which gave the conglomerate about 30 percent of its 2011 revenue of S$6.3 billion. F&N got 12 percent of sales from soft drinks last year and 17 percent from dairies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

-- The Nation 2012-10-30