DataRoom AM: DJs scrutiny
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will keep an eye on David Jones and Woolworths as another court date looms large with 10 days to go before the vote.
Meanwhile, Mineral Resources has sold its Aquila shares to the suitors, Goldman Sachs doesn’t like what the speculators are doing to Roc Oil stock and New Hope has reportedly started selling its WestSide stake to the bidder.
The corporate watchdog will continue watching the David Jones takeover proceedings, with 10 days standing between shareholders and a vote on the $2.2 billion deal from South Africa’s Woolworths.
ASIC lost one battle in the Federal Court over an apparent ‘collateral benefit’ for 9.9 per cent David Jones shareholder Solomon Lew on Wednesday.
A second court hearing is slated for July 17, which will come just three days after the scheme of arrangement is voted on. Mark your calendars.
Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources has officially ended the fight to derail the takeover of Aquila Resources by China’s largest steelmaker Baosteel and Australia’s Aurizon.
MinRes has sold its shares into the $1.4bn bid, which means it’ll make a loss on the share it purchased last month in an attempt to shift the momentum from a takeover to a joint development of Aquila’s iron ore project in Western Australia.
The bidders now hold over 75 per cent of the target, well above the 50.1 per cent acceptance minimum, according to The Australian.
Earlier yesterday, Aquila chairman Tony Poli accepted the offer for his 28.92 per cent stake and resigned. Two other directors followed him.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has reportedly raised concerns about the 28 per cent spike in Roc Oil shares since the merger of equals proposal with Horizon emerged.
According to The Australian Financial Review, Goldman Sachs is obviously cognisant of the enticing speculation play given that there’s also a third party with another proposal.
“On a standalone basis, we remain concerned with Roc’s reserve life and lack of well-defined growth,” said Goldman Sachs, according to the AFR.
The same newspaper also reports WestSide Corporation’s 17.7 per cent shareholder New Hope Corporation started selling its stake to WestSide’s suitor Landbridge Group on Thursday.
New Zealand glass maker Metro Glass has all it needs to proceed with an issue price of $NZ1.70 per share ($1.59) for its initial public offering, following a two-day bookbuild. The price is at the lower end of the company’s $NZ1.65 to $NZ1.90 ($1.54 to $1.78) price range.
Goodman Group has signed two big leases at its industrial estate in China’s Tianjin region.
Infant and maternity products company Leyou (China) Chain Store Co has picked up 23,000sqm of space and delivery company SF Express has taken 12,000sqm.
Goodman has ploughed $2bn worth of capital into its China developments to attract new tenants.
Leading lamb and cattle business GM Scott has been sold to diversified agribusiness player Manildra Group for an undisclosed sum. A source told DataRoom the figure was less than $100m.
The news is further evidence that consolidation of Australian agribusiness industry in anticipation of growing demand for food from Asia has some way to run yet.
And finally, sports tech start-up Catapult Spots has picked up Canberra-based GPSports after raising $6 million.