Milne’s foils George Court bid

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33156, 21 February 1973, Page 14

Milne’s foils George Court bid

GN etc Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 20. George Court and Sons, Ltd, will not proceed with its proposed take-over bid for Milne and Choyce, Ltd, because Milne’s board has said it would go ahead with signing the agrggment to lease the downtown store from the Mainline-Fletcher consortium.

A condition of the offer by George Court was that no agreement be signed without [its prior approval. The board of George Court has informed the stock ex-/ change that the 100 c cash-a- ; share bid will not proceed. I, In a letter to shareholders, the chairman of Milne’s (Mr' ! R. S. Milne) says that although the company is ' not yet legally committed i to a lease, the directors have the power to signh the agreement in spite of the 1

condition in the George Court bid. The Milne directors consider that they have a commitment and a strong moral obligation to sign the lease, which is being prepared for signing on Friday. They want to protect the employment of the 400 people working in the Queen Street store, and are convinced that the new downtown store will provide the company with a most profitable and vital central city business which in the future will be the key department store in the Auckland city area, Mr Milne says.