BIL pursuing Cal Mat offer

Press, 17 June 1988, Page 18

BIL pursuing Cal Mat offer

By

TOM BRIDGMAN

NZPA Washington Brierley Investments is still pursuing its SUS9BO million ($1401M) takeover bid for the U.S. west coast concrete and real estate concern, CaiMat Co. Brierley owns 19 per cent of Los Angeles-based Cal Mat through its Hong Kong subsidiary, Industrial Equity (Pacific), Ltd, and in March launched a SUS4O-a-share hostile takeover for the rest of the company. Sir Ron Brierley, chairman of Brierley Investments, said in an interview this week that a mutually agreed "standstill” on the offer had been in place since then while talks between the companies were held. “From a public point of view it therefore appears that the whole thing has gone into limbo. “But that’s definitely not so and depending on the outcome of various talks we’ve had over this period the bid could either revive, its all ready to go, or we could

enter into some more permanent agreement.” Sir Ron said any revived offer would be the same as before. “In fact we are more anxious now to either press on with it or come to some other mutually satisfactory conclusion,” he said. In response to the takeover bid, Cal Mat in early April said it intended to sell its cement and real estate operations and distribute the estimated SUSBOOM in proceeds to shareholders. Under that restructuring Cal Mat would retain its concrete, asphalt and aggregate operations, the main profit areas and which generated 72 per cent of the company’s SUS6SB.9M in sales last year and had SUS9B.SM in operating profit. Sir Ron said following that “general terms” announcement, Brierley “felt it reasonable to enter into a standstill while some of those angles were pursued in more detail.” "They haven’t actually disposed of anything, they

simply announced an intention to try and reorganise along those lines.”

Sir Ron believed neither the initial Cal Mat resistance to the takeover nor his company’s desire to pursue it had been altered by the talks over the past months. “We’d like to press on with our offer, but only in terms that we felt had a chance of success,” he said. “I think its fair to say from the company’s point of view our offer is their least preferred alternative. “But equally if some of the other possibilities didn’t come to fruition then our offer may look more attractive.” Brierley directors will meet today to decide who, if anybody, will buy their 35 per cent shareholding in NZI Brierley’s chief executive, Mr Paul Collins, said yester-’ day companies which had tendered for the NZI stake would be told of the outcome of board deliberations by 5 p.m. today. A public announcement on the outcome may or may not be made today.