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| Kirin to take over Lion Nathan |
| Melbourne, 27.04.2009 |
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| By Miranda Maxwell
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Japanese brewer Kirin <2503.T> agreed a $2.5 billion (1.71 billion pound) buy-out of Lion Nathan , Australia's second-largest brewer, on Monday, paying a near 50 percent premium to expand into one of the world's most profitable markets.
Lion Nathan shares, which resumed trade on Monday, soared more than 40 percent on the news.
Kirin is buying the remaining 53.9 percent of Lion it does not already own at a 47 percent premium, as part of an aggressive move by Japanese brewers outside their shrinking home market.
The takeover would allow Kirin to tie in Lion, maker of XXXX Gold and Hahn beer, with its other businesses in Australia, dairy and juice firm National Foods and milk group Dairy Farmers.
Australia has long been an attractive market for brewers because beer sales, dominated by Foster's Brewing Group and Lion Nathan, have big profit margins.
The offer is worth A$12.22 a share, including A$11.50 a share in cash from Kirin and dividends totalling A$0.72 if the deal goes ahead. The overall offer values the buy-out at about A$3.5 billion (1.71 billion pounds).
"As a shareholder it's clearly a strong offer," said John Grace, portfolio manager at Ausbil, which owns Lion Nathan stocks. "We'll certainly consider it. At first read it looks like a reasonable bid," he said.
Non-Kirin shareholder feedback so far was positive, Lion Chairman Geoff Ricketts said, and the deal was likely to go through by September. Lion did not expect difficulty with foreign investment regulators in Australia or New Zealand, and was hopeful competition regulators also presented no major obstacle.
"Certainly, the shareholders that have rung through this morning seem very satisfied with the outcome," Ricketts told reporters by telephone. "They seem very comfortable," he said.
Lion shares rose as far as A$11.84, having traded at A$8.31 before being suspended on Wednesday.
COMPELLING OFFER
The brewer said the offer valued the whole of Lion at A$8.2 billion on enterprise value, or 12.5 times analysts' forecasts for 2009 earnings of A$654 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
That matches the valuation on InBev's $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch last year.
"This is a very attractive outcome," said Ricketts. "It is a compelling offer at a significant premium."
Investors had said a price benchmark for the offer would be the A$11.50 a share Kirin offered to pay for Lion shares last year as part of the funding Lion needed for a failed A$7.6 billion bid for Australian bottler Coca-Cola Amatil .
"At first glance it's a reasonable offer compared to the benchmark they put on the table with the Coca-Cola Amatil deal," said Theo Maas, analyst with Fortis Investment Partners, a Lion shareholder.
Analysts put high odds on a deal going ahead.
"The probability of a successful deal remains high given Kirin's strategic rationale, its available war chest and low funding costs, the open minority register and lack of regulatory hurdles," Citi said in a note, after Lion reported an unaudited first half profit of A$176 million, up 6.9 percent, last Friday.
The offer is subject to approval from non-Kirin shareholders.
Kirin's move on Lion follows the Japanese group's deal in February to buy up to 49 percent of Philippine San Miguel Brewery for $1.4 billion.
Japanese media reports have also said that it is interested in Oriental Brewery, Anheuser-Busch InBev's South Korean beer business.
(Additional reporting by Gyles Beckford in Wellington and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; editing by Jonathan Standing)
odkaz na stránku |
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Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
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