Australian regulator gives conditional nod for Dutch firm's Namoi Cotton takeover (updated)

Namoi Cotton

01/08/2024 01:29

(Recasts paragraph 1 and updates with details and background
from paragraph 2 onwards)
       Aug 1 (Reuters) - 
    The Australian competition watchdog will not oppose Louis
Dreyfus' proposal to take over Namoi Cotton  NAM.AX , the
regulator said on Thursday, a month after it raised concerns
over a similar buyout bid by a Singaporean entity.
  
        An affiliate of Singapore's Olam Group  OLAG.SI  and
Dutch commodity merchant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) have been 
    engaged
     in an international bidding war to take control of Namoi,
which would help them expand their footprint in Australia.
  
        In June, the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) said the proposed acquisition of Namoi by
Singapore's Olam Agri  IPO-OLAA.SI  
    raised
     competition concerns in the supply of cotton ginning
services. 
  
        The regulator, however, laid down a couple of conditions
on Thursday for LDC to fulfill in order to proceed with the
deal.
  
        LDC and its units need to divest their stake in
Australian cotton lint classing services firm ProClass and
terminate its joint venture with sector peer WANT Cotton. 
  
        "ACCC has concluded that the LDC Group would not have
sufficient market power to restrict or negatively impact rival
merchants' access to cotton lint," the regulator said in a
statement.
  
        Namoi Cotton had earlier 
    recommended
     its shareholders to accept Singapore Olam's A$144.9 million
($94.82 million) takeover offer.
  

       ($1 = 1.5281 Australian dollars)
  

 (Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed
Safi Shamsi and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Roshan.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com;))