Forum Archive Index - June 2004

[Robin Benson <rob@hammerheadmedia.co.uk>]

The question is now whether "yet" has arrived ...

Mr Norgate is confident that WRI holders will find this new increased 
offer attractive. I note that shortly after this announcement WRI was 
trading briefly for $1.60 and at time of writing has dropped back to 
$1.57, a difference of $0.08 between the offer and market price. 
Previously this figure was $0.08-$0.11 so no change in respect of how 
the market rates Mr Norgate's bid.

Robin

WRI
01/06/2004
TAKEOVER

REL: 0945 HRS Wrightson Limited

TAKEOVER: WRI: Offer for Wrightson Increased to $1.65 per Share

The takeover offer by Rural Portfolio Investments Limited (RPI) for 
shares in
Wrightson has been increased by 15 cents per share to $1.65.

The Managing Director of RPI, Craig Norgate, said the company was 
confident
shareholders would find the new price extremely attractive. "$1.65 is 33
percent higher than the market price before the announcement of our 
offer -
and 36 percent higher than the volume-weighted average price since
Wrightson's most recent trading results were announced," he said.

"The new price is also well within the fair value range indicated by the
Independent Adviser's Report, prepared by Grant Samuel & Associates. It 
is,
in fact, higher than Wrightson shares have ever traded since being 
listed a
decade ago."

The increased price applies to all those who accept the offer, including
those who have already accepted.

Mr Norgate said the decision to increase the price reflected feedback 
RPI had
received from a number of parties that, whilst the previous offer was 
more
than fair, an offer within the independent advisor's range was 
necessary to
gain unequivocal support, and such an offer would succeed. "We 
understand
that significant institutional shareholders will accept the offer, and 
that
the major broking houses will recommend acceptance to their clients," he
said.

Along with the change in price, Rural Portfolio Investments has put a
proposal to the Wrightson board of directors which would allow the 
company to
return additional value to shareholders by paying part of the $1.65 
offer
price by way of a fully imputed pre-acquisition special dividend of up 
to 14
cents per share. If adopted by the board and confirmed by RPI, this 
would
allow the value of existing imputation credits, which might otherwise 
be lost
on a change of control, to be passed directly to existing shareholders.

In the interests of shareholders, Rural Portfolio Investments has also
decided to extend the closing date to Wednesday 23 June 2004. Mr 
Norgate said
the extension was designed to provide shareholders with the maximum
opportunity to consider the increased price.

Under the terms of the offer, the offer price of $1.65 can be taken 
either in
Cash, in Redeemable Preference Shares in Rural Portfolio Investments
Securities Limited, or in a mix of cash and Redeemable Preference 
Shares.
This allows Wrightson shareholders the opportunity to realise a price
considerably higher than recent market prices for the shares - and, if 
they
wish, to switch from an exposure to the Wrightson share price into a
fixed-rate investment with a yield much higher than the reduced normal
Wrightson dividend.

Mr Norgate noted that no brokerage was payable by shareholders selling 
into
the offer, as any brokerage is being paid by Rural Portfolio 
Investments.

Formal notice of these variations will be mailed to shareholders 
tomorrow,
along with a letter providing further information about RPI's 
intentions for
Wrightson.
End CA:00100855 For:WRI    Type:TAKEOVER   Time:2004-06-01:09:45:39

On 19 May 2004, at 12:05, tennyson@caverock.net.nz wrote:

> discl: hold WRI, and have not decided whether I will offer my shares to
> Norgate and Co. yet!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To remove yourself from this list, please use the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/chat/forum/