Displaying items by tag: Bid

Australia: Boral has endorsed Seven Group Holdings' (SGH) increased takeover offer after the bidder enhanced its proposal. According to Business News Western Australia, Boral is now recommending its shareholders accept SGH's offer, previously rejected in March 2024. The offer has risen from an initial US$0.98/share to a maximum of US$1.11/share. An on-market buyback is also an option at up to US$4.19/share, with total shareholder value estimated between US$4.02 and US$4.17.

Boral's independent corporate advisory company, Grant Samuel, now finds the offer ‘reasonable’. SGH has increased its stake in Boral to 78.8% and proposes further governance adjustments by adding two more executives to Boral's board.

Managing director of SGH, Ryan Stokes, said "We are pleased to offer Boral shareholders the maximum consideration under our offer. Both new and existing SGH shareholders also stand to benefit from the US$0.20/share fully franked dividend that SGH will pay following completion of the offer." The offer period is extended to 15 May 2024.

Australia: Boral's independent directors have dismissed Seven Group's takeover bid, which valued the company at US$6.9bn. The directors argue the deal does not fairly or reasonably reflect Boral's value, especially considering its billion-dollar surplus property portfolio. Seven Group's offer of US$6.05 per share could potentially rise to US$6.25, but an independent expert from Grant Samuel has assessed Boral's fair value between US$4.24 and US$4.65 per share.

Seven Group's CEO, Ryan Stokes, said “We obviously disagree with their assessment strongly.”

Currently, Seven Group holds 71.6% of Boral and is offering a mix of cash and shares for the remaining stake, with potential incremental increases based on share acquisition levels and board recommendations.

Anthony Aboud, deputy head of equities at Perpetual, said "Our view is that Boral owns a unique and hard to replicate set of assets with an excellent management team led by Vik Bansal which is early on in its turnaround strategy."

A spokesperson for Boral said "We have carefully evaluated the Seven offer and recommend that shareholders should reject the Seven offer as it undervalues Boral. The independent expert has concluded that the Seven offer is neither fair nor reasonable, supporting the bid response committee's view. We encourage shareholders to remain with Boral and fully participate in the future value available through continued direct ownership of Boral."

Brazil: Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), Votorantim Cimentos and China-based Huaxin Cement have all submitted ‘virtually’ identical bids for InterCement's assets in Brazil. Valor International News has reported that Huaxin Cement may be the bidder that best 'pleases' InterCement. As a would-be market newcomer, its acquisition of the business would not require investigation by the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE).

For rival bidder CSN, growth in Brazil would shape its planned initial public offering of its local cement subsidiary CSN Cimentos later in 2024. The group reportedly plans to appoint current CFO Marcelo Ribeiro as CEO of CSN Cimentos.

Australia: France-based Saint-Gobain has submitted a non-binding indicative offer of US$5.44bn for building materials producer and land banking entity CSR. CSR’s businesses include insulation producer Bradford, fibre cement systems producer Cemintel, wallboard producer Gyprock, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block producer Hebel and roofing producer Monier. Together, CSR’s building materials units accounted for 72% of its sales in 2023.

Brazil: Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), Huaxin Cement and Votorantim Cimentos have all bid for InterCement’s Brazilian business, Valor Online News has reported. The source stated that Votorantim Cimentos is leading a consortium alongside Italy-based Buzzi and concrete producer Polimix Concreto, however the Brazilian cement market leader denied this, stating that its offer is ‘individual and independent.’ Both Votorantim Cimentos and CSN Cimentos are reportedly considering making initial public offerings (IPOs).

Votorantim Cimentos said “The company clarifies that it is not part of nor leads any consortium within the auction process. To date, its offer remains under evaluation by the respective seller and, therefore, no documents have been signed with any counterparty that generate an obligation or firm commitment for the acquisition of the assets that were the subject of the offer.”

US: Heidelberg Materials is rumoured to have hired advisors for a possible attempt to acquire Summit Materials. Bloomberg has reported that the company made two approaches to Summit Materials ‘in recent weeks.’ Meanwhile, the Colorado-based producer revealed in a statement that it has rejected two takeover bids from an unnamed party, the more recent on 18 October 2023.

Summit Materials previously agreed to merge with Cementos Argos subsidiary Argos USA in early September 2023.

India: Ambuja Cements, a subsidiary of Adani Group, has been declared as the 'preferred bidder' for the Uskalvagu limestone block in Odisha. An e-auction was conducted by the state government for the block, situated in Malkangiri district. Adani Group has not disclosed the amount that it bid for the block, but said it covers 547 hectares with estimated limestone resources of about 141Mt.

The company must now obtain the statutory licences and permits related to mining operations to be declared a ‘successful bidder’ and subsequently enter into a ‘Mine Development and Production Agreement (MDPA)’ with Government of Odisha.

India: Dalmia Cement (Bharat) and Sagar Cements have submitted acquisition offers to Andhra Cements' administrator and committee of creditors. The Business Standard newspaper reported that the company owes its lenders total debts of US$118m and is valued at between US$42.5m and US$48.6m.

India: JSW Cement is 'closing in' on an acquisition of some of India Cements' assets in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Business Standard newspaper has reported that JSW Cement beat an offer by UltraTech Cement for the Rajasthan assets.

India Cements began construction of a new 3Mt/yr cement plant with a dedicated limestone mine in Madhya Pradesh in 2022. In May 2022, it announced that it was contemplating a land sale in order to reduce its debt. India Cements ended the 2022 financial year with debt of US$369m, up by 1.4% year-on-year from US$364m at the close of the 2021 financial year.

US: Bloomberg has named Germany-based HeidelbergCement, Switzerland-based Holcim and Turkey-based Sabancı Holding as possible bidders for some of Sika’s US admixtures assets. Sika is seeking to divest the assets in order to obtain competition authorities’ approval for its US$6bn acquisition of Germany-based construction chemicals company MBCC from Lone Star Funds.