Bid rejected

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 16

Bid rejected

PA Auckland The directors of HendersOn and Pollard, Ltd, have decided to reject the Feltex N.Z., Ltd, cash bid to increase its holding from 21.9 to 55 per cent. Houts before a statement on the decision was prepared, for sending to shareholders, Wellington-sourced buying in the sharemarket topped the Feltex price of 475 c by sc. A total of 12,000 Henderson and Pollard shares Was crossed at 480 c. Earlier 7100 shares traded at the bid price of 4?5c. Yesterday 200 were sold at 485 c, and almost 7000 at 480 c. . A number of potentially interested companies said they were not behind the buying. Market sources suggested a speculator was seeking to build a key holding which could be critical should some

larger holdings be difficult to shift, and Feltex and Fisher and Paykel were already holding almost half the capital. ' The statement from Henderson and Pollard says that the. directors, excluding those representing Feltex, have considered the Feltex offer and “are firmly of the opinion that it should be rejectedi° The statement adds: “The directors reached the decision after careful analysis of the Feltex acquisition offer and agreed that they would not be accepting the offer themselves, and strongly recommend that all shareholders refrain from selling their shares “It is intended that a statement setting out-the board's view in detail will be sent to all shareholders after the dispatch of the formal offer documents by Feltex.