Australia's Namoi Cotton on trading halt after hitting 25-yr high on revised LDC offer (updated)

Namoi Cotton

01/10/2024 03:16

(Recasts, adds background)
       Oct 1 (Reuters) - Trading in Namoi Cotton  NAM.AX  was
temporarily suspended after shares surged on Tuesday to the
highest levels in more than 25 years following Louis Dreyfus
Co's (LDC) decision to raise its buyout offer price and stake in
the Australian cotton producer.
     Dutch commodities trader LDC, one of the bidders for Namoi
Cotton, raised its stake in the company to 47.7%, according to
an exchange filing. The revised proposal, which values the
target firm at A$140.7 million, comes a day after LDC increased
the offer price to A$0.68 from A$0.67 per Namoi share.   
    The new offer still came in lower than Singapore's Olam Agri
 IPO-OLAA.SI  bid of A$0.75 apiece, valuing Namoi at A$155.2
million.
    Shares of Namoi jumped as much as 9.2% to A$0.775 in early
trade on Tuesday, their highest levels since September 1999. 
    Shortly after, the Australian bourse operator paused trading
in Namoi shares pending further announcement.
    Last month, Olam Agri raised its stake in Namoi and
increased its buyout offer for the cotton ginning firm to top
LDC's bid.
    Australian competition regulator (ACCC) is yet to clear Olam
Agri's offer even though it has agreed to divest certain local
operations, while they cleared LDC's bid last month after the
trader agreed to certain divestitures.
    Namoi has said it backed Olam Agri's bid, switching from its
earlier recommendation of LDC's offer and joining one of its top
shareholders Samuel Terry Asset Management in supporting the
Singaporean company's proposal. 

    

 (Reporting by Ayushman Ojha; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Ayushman.Ojha@thomsonreuters.com;))