Australia's Boral backs Seven Group's improved $980 mln offer (updated)

Boral

12/04/2024 03:21

(Adds deal details from paragraph 2 onward)
       April 12 (Reuters) - Australia's Boral  BLD.AX 
recommended on Friday that investors accept an up to A$1.5
billion ($980.70 million) takeover offer from its largest
shareholder Seven Group Holdings  SVW.AX , after negotiating an
increase in the cash component of the deal.
    Seven Group, controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes and his
family, has lifted its stake in the building products maker to
78.8% from 71.6% since first making an attempt in February to
acquire full control of the company. 
    The deal on offer now comprises 0.1116 Seven Group shares
and A$1.70 per share in cash and dividends for the stake it does
not own in Boral.
        That is higher than the earlier offer with a cash
component of A$1.50 a share that was to increase if the bid met
certain requirements. Boral's independent directors told
investors to reject the original offer and said it undervalued
the company, citing an independent expert's report.
        Under the revised offer, Boral shareholders will receive
the equivalent of A$6.16 to A$6.39 per Boral share, including
dividends from both companies, and $A0.13 per share in franking
credits. 
    Boral shares were trading 1.8% higher at A$6.14 as of 0200
GMT on Friday, while Seven Group shares were 0.05% higher at
A$40.05.
    Boral said independent expert Grant Samuel had formed the
view that Seven Group's revised offer was now reasonable.
        The terms of the new deal give Boral an option to buy
back a maximum A$350 million of shares on market, the company
said.
($1 = 1.5293 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru and Scott Murdoch in
Sydney; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Jamie Freed)
 ((Himanshi.Akhand@thomsonreuters.com;))