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Patrick Corp accepts Toll Holding's raised takeover bid

Australian stevedore Patrick Corp has accepted a A$5.81 billion (US$4.23 billion) takeover offer from transporter Toll Holdings Ltd that will create one of the world's largest transport and logistics groups, company executives announced yesterday.

Toll's final bid, announced yesterday, is 9 percent higher than its last offer last month and concludes an eight-month battle by managing director Paul Little to acquire Patrick despite a fierce defense by the target company's board, Little and Patrick managing director Chris Corrigan said.

Patrick directors agreed on Thursday night they would unanimously recommend the deal to shareholders, Corrigan said in a joint press conference in the southern city of Melbourne.

The final cash and share offer values Patrick at A$8.26 a share, well above its closing share price Thursday of A$8.03 and at the top end of the last independent expert valuation range for the group.

Toll raised the base cash component to A$3 a share, from A$1.90, while leaving unchanged the offer of 0.4 Toll shares for each Patrick share.

The merger of Toll and Patrick will create an integrated logistics group valued around A$10 billion, based on Toll's closing share price of A$13.15 on Thursday, that is expected to rank fourth in the world.

Toll made its first tilt at Patrick last August with a A$4.6 billion bid and raised that last month to A$5.27 billion.

The companies expect to submit the agreement to Patrick's shareholders by next Friday.

Australia's competition watchdog, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ruled out a merger in January but has accepted last month the terms of the new offer.
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