Thai’s TCC bids for F&N
A GROUP linked to Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi yesterday made a $7.2bn (£4.5bn) cash offer to take over Fraser and Neave, two weeks ahead of a crucial shareholder vote on Heineken NV’s separate offer for F&N’s key beer business.
The offer came after Thai Beverage and TCC Assets, the vehicle linked to the billionaire, increased their combined stake in F&N to 30.36 per cent, according to a stock filing to the Singapore Exchange.
Under Singapore law, a bidder has to make a mandatory offer for a company if it buys a 30 per cent stake.
TCC assets offered to buy the rest of F&N for S$8.88 a share, the same price ThaiBev paid to buy a 22 per cent stake in F&N from Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp in mid-July. It represents a premium of 4.3 per cent to F&N’s last traded price.
The offer could complicate Heineken’s $6.3bn bid for Asia Pacific Breweries, in which F&N has a 40 per cent stake. F&N shareholders will vote on the proposed sale of the APB stake to Heineken on 28 September.