Brierley bid wins

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 18

Brierley bid wins

NZPA Melbourne The chairman of Industrial Equity, Ltd, Mr Ron Brierley, said yesterday that his company had won control of the Tasmanian-based Cascade Brewery Company, Ltd. Mr Brierley said lEL yesterday received acceptances which gave the company a comfortable margin over the necessary level of 50.1 per cent of Cascade’s issued capital. lEL’s ■ offer was 50c more than that offered by the rival joint bidder, B. Seppelt and Sons/C-C Bottlers, Ltd.

The South Australian consortium earlier notified the Hobart Stock Exchange that it held about 46 per cent of Cascade’s issued capital. One question being raised is what would happen to the shares in Cascade bought by B.

Seppelt/CC-Bottlers, who have spent an estimated S2OM in their quest for the brewer.

There is a suggestion that the Adelaide-based group may be locked in to the brewery as it is prohibited from selling its shares to a rival bidder. Yesterday’s victory for lEL ends a battle that goes back to September when the Sydney group, which had been buying Cascade shares, made a partial offer of 3.75 c a share then almost immediately increased that to 400 c while lifting its stake to 11.7 per cent. By the end of November the bid had reached 450 c a share, which the Cascade board said came nowhere near the asset backing of 559 c a share. In the meantime lEL had thrown a cat among Melbourne’s corporate pigeons with an audacious bid to take over the nation’s biggest brewery, Carlton United Brewery — a move that led to the subsidiary, Elders-IXL, ending up controlling its master CUB and Brierley’s walking away with a reputed JIOM profit. Immediately after that, CUB sold its 25 per cent holding in Cascade to Seppelt/CC-Bot-tlers, who had already entered a rival bid for the Tasmanian brewery. lEL lifted its Cascade bid from 450 c to 500 c in midDecember, while exploring a loophole in the take-over code by using an associate company to buy shares on the market at above the formal bid price, rities Commission suspended trading in Cascade while it investigated the sale of CUB shares and lEL’s ploy, then the bidding duel began in earnest in the New Year. Seppelt/C-C Bottlers held 27 per cent to lEL’s 19.1 per cent

as the rival offers rose above 500 c.

On January 5 trading was suspended again while lEL’s intentions were examined, and with the Sydney-based company confirming it would stop buying immediately it gained a majority, the trading resumed with lEL’s raising its bid to 550 c a share, and the NCSC refused to allow its rival to follow suit.

The Cascade board recommended that shareholders accept the lower offer from the Adelaide group, but lEL raised its offer further to 575 c a share, and yesterday its prize dropped into its lap.