Australian agrichemical firm Nufarm yesterday said it had stopped discussions with China’s Sinochem (中化) on a possible takeover, and would instead seek a strategic investment from Japan’s Sumitomo.
The development comes after state-owned Sinochem last week unexpectedly dropped its bid for Nufarm to around A$2.62 billion (US$2.32 billion) from the A$2.84 billion proposed in September.
“The Nufarm Board has carefully considered Sinochem’s proposal and has decided that it is not in the best interests of Nufarm shareholders to pursue Sinochem’s proposal,” the company said in a statement.
The Melbourne-based company said a proposed strategic investment from the Sumitomo Chemical Company provided better certainty for shareholders.
It said its board would unanimously recommend that Sumitomo acquire 20 percent of its shares for A$14 cash per share via a tender offer.
Nufarm would then undertake a A$250 million equity capital raising, the global crop chemical company said.
Nufarm and Sumitomo will also enter into an agreement to cooperate across a number of business areas, it said, including research and development.
“This investment and the resulting benefits to the business are expected to provide Nufarm with access to additional new products and increased opportunities to expand and strengthen Nufarm’s position in various crop segments and geographic markets,” chairman Kerry Hoggard said.
Under the original Sinochem proposal, the China state-owned company would have paid A$13 per share to acquire all of the issued ordinary shares in the company. But it revised the price down to A$12 on Dec. 21.
Nufarm said the lower offer undervalued the company while the proposal remained subject to numerous conditions, some of which it said were unacceptable.
Nufarm shareholders will vote on the Japanese company’s offer, which is subject to final approval by the Sumitomo board, at a meeting in March.
The development follows Nufarm’s conditional support, in late 2007, for a A$3 billion takeover from a private equity consortium, which included China’s state-owned ChemChina (中國化工). That takeover was derailed by the global financial crisis.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
RESILIENCE: Once the system is operational, there would be no need to worry about the risks posed by disasters or other emergencies on communication systems, an official said Taiwan would have 24-hour access to low Earth orbit satellites by the end of this month through service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb as part of the nation’s effort to enhance signal resilience, a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) official said yesterday. Earlier this year the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which partnered with Chunghwa Telecom on a two-year project to boost signal resilience throughout the nation, said it reached a milestone when it made contact with OneWeb’s satellites half of the time. It expects to have the capability to maintain constant contact with the satellites and have nationwide coverage by the end
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
RSS