Peak's bid down to the wire

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Monday 5th March 2001

An attempt to delay a vote on the sale of Fletcher Energy (NZSE: FEG) will be a last minute effort after rival bidder Peak Petroleum filed with the Court of Appeal this morning.

On Friday Peak lost its first attempt to get the vote called off, and to be allowed to begin due diligence on Fletcher Energy, after pleading its case in the High Court in Auckland.

It has now filed an appeal but spokesman Cedric Allen says that's unlikely to be heard before tomorrow morning.

Peak, whose main backers are privately-owned energy company Greymouth Petroleum, listed-investor GPG (NZSE: GPG) and FR Partners, first offered a cash component for Energy of US$3.70 early last week, but increased that to $3.85 on Friday. Shell and Apache originally offered US$3.34 but upped that to $3.55 after Peak made its first offer public.

Fletcher Challenge has refused to consider the Peak proposal, saying that it does not have an official offer on the table nor guaranteed funding.

Fletcher shareholders are due to meet in Auckland tomorrow afternoon to decide not only on the Energy sale but also to approve the separation of the company's Building and Forests divisions.

A number of commentators believe Shell and Apache are getting a cheap deal for FEG, but say the improved offer may give it the numbers it needs to win tomorrow's vote, it if goes ahead.

Energy was the star performer in the Fletcher stable when the company announced its interim results last week.

FEG posted a much improved profit of $308 million, while the Building and Forests divisions both reported losses.

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