Lion Nathan halts trading on concerns over Kirin takeover

Thursday 7th May 2009

Lion Nathan, Australian second-largest beer maker, has asked the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges to halt trading in its shares on concerns that confidentiality around takeover talks with Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. had been breached.

The company said it needed to continue discussions with its major shareholder to help finalise the takeover, and requested an intermediate trading halt.

“Lion Nathan has concerns that the confidentiality of aspects of those discussions has been lost,” it said in its statement to the ASX. The halt will “permit confidential discussions to continue” between the two parties, it said.

Lion’s independent directors agreed to recommend Kirin’s bid of A$12.22 a share to shareholders last month, and the company said it expected a deal to be finalised this week. The Japanese company’s offer values Lion at A$6.5 billion, or 12.5 times the estimated EBITDA.

Kirin also plans to acquire up to 49% of the Philippines’ San Miguel Brewer, the biggest food and drinks company in South East Asia. San Miguel post an 8% gain in first-quarter profit last month.

Trading in Lion Nathan was halted on the NZX-50 index as well, but the NZX has yet to post a reason for the move.

Shares in the company rose 0.7% to $14.90 in New Zealand trading today, and gained 0.3% to A$11.65 in Australia.

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet