Australian pub owner ALE knocks back $560 mln private equity approach
Listed pub owner Australian Leisure and Entertainment Property Management Ltd said it plans to rebuff a A$773 million ($560 million) takeover approach from a private investment firm after receiving the informal bid on Wednesday.
In a statement issued after the close of trading, ALE Property said Sydney-based Caledonia (Private) Investments Pty Ltd, its biggest shareholder with 25.8 percent, made an informal offer of A$3.95 per share for the rest of the company, a 9 percent premium to its closing price.
It said that price would significantly undervalue the company and that it "continues to assess a number of opportunities designed to further grow distributions and security holder value".
Alcohol-related companies have experienced a flurry of M&A activity this week after the world's top two brewers, Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, agreed to one of the biggest buyouts in corporate history, with SABMiller accepting an offer worth more than $100 billion.
Also on Wednesday, Australian winemaker Treasury Wine Estates Ltd, the world's biggest standalone wine firm, said it was buying most of Diageo Plc's wine assets for $552 million. Treasury and ALE Property are spin-offs of beer giant Foster's, which was bought by SABMiller in 2011.
Investment firms are meanwhile seizing on a share market downturn and a weaker Australian currency to pore over potential investments following a busy year of exits in 2014.
($1 = 1.3820 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Source: Reuters, 14th October 2015
Originally published as: Australian pub owner ALE knocks back $560 mln private equity approach
