Cerebos makes $71.6 mln tilt at Comvita

Friday 14th October 2011

Cerebos New Zealand, a unit of regional coffee and food maker Cerebos Gregg’s, is offering $71.6 million to buy Comvita.

The Singapore stock exchange-listed company is offering $2.50 a share for Comvita, a premium of 19 percent to yesterday’s closing price, in a bid to take control of the local manuka honey wound care manufacturer and delist it.

Cerebos plans to operate the company on a standalone basis, and says it will look use its links into Asia to market the brand into one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

“Cerebos would be looking to explore areas of collaboration,” Cerebos Gregg’s chairman Trevor Kerr said in a statement. “In particular, we can provide strategic assistance in sales and marketing in Asia where the Comvita brands are not yet well established.”

Comvita’s shares were unchanged at $2.10 yesterday, and have surged 42 percent this year, valuing the company at $62 million by market capitalisation. The stock is rated a ‘buy’ by one analyst who follows the company, according to Reuters.

The offer comes a month after Comvita settled a patent dispute with Brightwake, where it granted a sub-licence to the British rival letting it manufacture, distribute and sell its Algivon brand in territories where the Comvita subsidiary Apimed Medial Honey has patent protections. As part of the settlement, Comvita avoided a 226,000 pound payment.

The Te Puke-based company expects annual profit of between $7.3 million and $8.2 million, with sales likely to be between $91 million and $95 million.

Cerebos Gregg’s, whose local brands include Caffe L’affare coffee, Bisto gravies, and Raro drink powder, recently invested $13 million to expand facilities in a joint venture at Mount Maunganui, and is spending $6 million on the country’s only instant coffee producing plant in Dunedin.

“We believe the business has potential which can only be fulfilled by an increased investment in research and development and brand building – even at the expense of short to mid-term profitability,” Kerr said.

The offer is conditional on Cerebos reaching 90% acceptances to force the compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares, and let it delist the company, but if it falls short of the mark and decides to declare the takeover unconditional, it will “seek appropriate representation on the Comvita board and will participate in decisions relating to Comvita and its future through the Comvita board,” according to the offer document.

Cerebos shares fell 0.6 percent to S$4.78 on the Singapore Exchange yesterday, and have dropped 2.4 percent this year. The company has a market capitalisation of US$1.19 billion.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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