JOHANNESBURG Thu Dec 19, 2013 4:32am EST
<span id="articleText"/>JOHANNESBURG Dec 19 (Reuters) - South Africa's top financial daily weighed in on the acrimonious battle between the state pension fund and Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals on Thursday, accusing the asset manager of "hostility to foreign investment".
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has spurned CFR's sweetened $1.2 billion cash and stock takeover offer for local drug maker Adcock Ingram, saying it wanted all cash.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>CFR has since accused the PIC, which manages more than 1.4 trillion rand ($135 billion) in government employee pensions and is the top shareholder of Adcock, of protectionism.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>In an editorial on Thursday, leading South African financial newspaper Business Day agreed with CFR's assessment, saying the PIC had failed to make clear its objections to the deal.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"Given the lack of any other compelling reason for the PIC opposition, it becomes hard to dispute CFR chief executive Alejandro Weinstein's contention that it is hostility to foreign investment," Business Day said.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The newspaper said the demand for an all-cash offer called into question the fund's motives, since the PIC initially backed a lower offer for Adcock from local conglomerate Bidvest earlier this year.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Bidvest, in which the PIC is also the top shareholder, in March offered 62.18 rand per Adcock share in cash and stock for 60 percent of the nation's No.2 drugmaker, an offer Adcock's board snubbed as "opportunistic".
<span id="midArticle_6"/>CFR is offering 74.50 rand in cash and shares for all of Adcock, a bid that has irrevocable support from shareholders holding 29 percent of Adcock.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>The PIC is expected to issue a statement later on Thursday, responding to CFR's charges and detailing its reasons for rejecting the offer.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>A source familiar with the fund's thinking has told Reuters the stock component of the deal forces the PIC to invest in a company that would be controlled and managed by people it does not know well.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>An all-cash offer would allow the PIC to exit its investment, the source has said.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>The rare Chile-South Africa tie-up is also jeopardised by a new cash offer from Bidvest, which this month went direct to shareholders with a 70 rand per share offer for about a third of Adcock.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>Bidvest has already built up its Adcock stake to about 7 percent, enough to torpedo the deal when combined with the PIC's 19 percent stake.
<span id="midArticle_12"/>The deal needs backing by shareholders holding 75 percent of Adcock to go through. A vote on the deal was delayed to January next year. ($1 = 10.3344 South African rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by David Dolan)
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<span id="articleText"/>JOHANNESBURG Dec 19 (Reuters) - South Africa's top financial daily weighed in on the acrimonious battle between the state pension fund and Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals on Thursday, accusing the asset manager of "hostility to foreign investment".
<span id="midArticle_0"/>The state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC) has spurned CFR's sweetened $1.2 billion cash and stock takeover offer for local drug maker Adcock Ingram, saying it wanted all cash.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>CFR has since accused the PIC, which manages more than 1.4 trillion rand ($135 billion) in government employee pensions and is the top shareholder of Adcock, of protectionism.
<span id="midArticle_2"/>In an editorial on Thursday, leading South African financial newspaper Business Day agreed with CFR's assessment, saying the PIC had failed to make clear its objections to the deal.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>"Given the lack of any other compelling reason for the PIC opposition, it becomes hard to dispute CFR chief executive Alejandro Weinstein's contention that it is hostility to foreign investment," Business Day said.
<span id="midArticle_4"/>The newspaper said the demand for an all-cash offer called into question the fund's motives, since the PIC initially backed a lower offer for Adcock from local conglomerate Bidvest earlier this year.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Bidvest, in which the PIC is also the top shareholder, in March offered 62.18 rand per Adcock share in cash and stock for 60 percent of the nation's No.2 drugmaker, an offer Adcock's board snubbed as "opportunistic".
<span id="midArticle_6"/>CFR is offering 74.50 rand in cash and shares for all of Adcock, a bid that has irrevocable support from shareholders holding 29 percent of Adcock.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>The PIC is expected to issue a statement later on Thursday, responding to CFR's charges and detailing its reasons for rejecting the offer.
<span id="midArticle_8"/>A source familiar with the fund's thinking has told Reuters the stock component of the deal forces the PIC to invest in a company that would be controlled and managed by people it does not know well.
<span id="midArticle_9"/>An all-cash offer would allow the PIC to exit its investment, the source has said.
<span id="midArticle_10"/>The rare Chile-South Africa tie-up is also jeopardised by a new cash offer from Bidvest, which this month went direct to shareholders with a 70 rand per share offer for about a third of Adcock.
<span id="midArticle_11"/>Bidvest has already built up its Adcock stake to about 7 percent, enough to torpedo the deal when combined with the PIC's 19 percent stake.
<span id="midArticle_12"/>The deal needs backing by shareholders holding 75 percent of Adcock to go through. A vote on the deal was delayed to January next year. ($1 = 10.3344 South African rand) (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by David Dolan)
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