OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.40am.
THE Altron-Board of Executors Equity Partners has extended its R2,05-billion bid for defense and electronics group Reunert indefinitely, and the bid may turn hostile.
Reunert’s board rejected the bid last month, and the consortium has mooted the possibility of taking the bid directly to the shareholders if the offer is spurned again, Business Day reports.
The group’s original bid of R10,25 a share was rejected as too low, and would have expired yesterday. Reunert officials have said any price below R15 a share would be a disappointment.
The consortium’s new offer came as Reunert announced the resignation of its chairman, Clive Parker. He is to be replaced by Reunert nonexecutive director Derek Cooper, who chairs food and packaging conglomerate CG Smith and was briefly chairman of Reunert in the mid-1980s, when it was still part of the old Barlow Rand conglomerate.
The continuing offer will be reviewed by Reunert management, and one official said the firm will comment later on Tuesday.
The Altron-BoE consortium has also put in a formal request to perform a due diligence study in support of its bid. Reunert’s board last month refused to grant it access to internal information. The board did, however, allow Brait Capital Partners access ahead of its R9,50 bid, which the board then also rejected.
Altron group finance director Gavin Rochussen said access to information is critical because many of Reunert’s businesses are joint ventures with foreign partners. Some Altron subsidiaries compete with Reunert, and the Competition Board may scotch the deal is it involved further consolidation in these areas.