Three suitors woo Southland company

Press, 11 July 1983, Page 8

Three suitors woo Southland company

PA Invercargill The Southland Frozen Meat Company is being wooed by three suitors, the company’s chairman, Mr J. B. Gordon, said last evening. Emphasising the company’s advice to shareholders not to sell, Mr Gordon said eight of the company’s 11 directors met for five hours on Saturday but made no decisions. “We had a good look at one option and we listened to the views of one party,” he said. He would not say whose views were heard but the main topic on the agenda was believed to have been a proposal from Waikati NZ refrigerating, Ltd.

Waitaki and S.F.M. both told shareholders not to sell on Friday after they said there were talks, although Waitaki’s managing director, Mr Athol Hunter, said there were no merger

plans. S.F.M. and Waitaki are partners in the Londonbased company Towers, International, and after denials of merger, speculation has arisen that the two are planning to form an um-brella-type holding company. Waitaki-NZR with 11 works, is New Zealand’s biggest meat processing company, S.F.M. has works at Mataura and Makarewa. “It would be fair to say we have at least three suitors,” said Mr Gordon. “They are all different people and they are all different propositions." One of the suitors might be the Dunedin-based Primary Producers Co-operative Society, which precipated speculation on S.F.M.’s future when it started buying S.F.M. shares at 305 c — 25c above market value — on June 30. Since then, it has acquired

about 8 per cent of the company’s shareholding, making it the second largest shareholder behind Wright-son-N.M.A. which holds 19.97 per cent. Mr Gordon said he had received a long telex message from P.P.C.S. but would not say what was in it. He would not say which company the third suitor was but said it was a significant national company, quite separate from Waitaki, and already in the meat industry. “It would’ seem that S.F.M. has more than one suitor and thus a complex situation is developing,” Mr Gordon said. “The board can only reiterate its earlier stand and reissue a strong ‘don't sell’ notification at this time." To questions, Mr Gordon said S.F.M. was not going to be swallowed up in a merger.