Offer to A.B.C. minority

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 18

Offer to A.B.C. minority

Never a dull day at A. B. Consolidated Holdings, Ltd, this week. Its affairs turned another corner yesterday, with an offer to buy out the minority shareholders. The minority shareholders — mainly the general public - hold about 20 per cent of the shares, those outside the 72 per cent holding of Food Holdings, Ltd (jointly owned by Brierley Investments, Ltd, and A. S. Paterson and Company, Ltd) and the 7 per cent holding of Associated Biscuit Manufacturers, Ltd, of Britain. The British company has said on many occasions that it would not sell its holding.,

The offer is 50c cash for each 50c share, and excludes the majority interest of Food Holdings. About 2M shares are affected by the bid, which is worth about SIM. The offer price is equal to the nominal value of the shares, which have a current market value of 45c. The directors have recommended to shareholders that in the meantime they do not sell their shares. The offer is from Moana Estates, Ltd, a private Nelson company, run by Mr O. R. Gunn, a sharebroker. Mr Gunn is associated with A. S. Paterson and Company,

and recently joined the Paterson board. Moana Estates also took over some of the New Zealand interests of the collapsed Gollin group. “The basis of Moana’s interest is set out in their letter received at the registered office of the company this morning and. in the interest of full disclosure, we quote the following information from that letter,” said the chairman of A.B.C. (Mr B. R. Judge) in a statement.

“Recent publicity regarding the problems still being encountered by the company at its Christchurch factory has again highlighted the doubts regarding restoration of reasonable dividends to your shareholders,” the Moana letter says. “The rationalisation in Christchurch will no doubt result in substantial asset write-offs, and I understand that the uncertainties of the extent of these has caused Food Holdings, Ltd, the present majority shareholder in A. B. Consolidated, to decline to make a cash offer to the minority shareholders. “Moana Estates, Ltd, has had experience in company restructuring and believes that it could provide significant assistance in reestablishing A. B. Consolidated as a profitable unit. Moana is also prepared to invest funds in A. B. Consolidated provided it can participate in the management at board level,” the Moana letter says.