NZ's Steel & Tube rebuffs enhanced takeover offer from Fletcher Building (updated)

Steel & Tube Holdings

14/10/2018 21:11

(Adds details on previous offer, Steel & Tube chairwoman
comment)
    Oct 15 (Reuters) - New Zealand's Steel & Tube Holdings
 STU.NZ  said on Monday it received a sweetened NZ$315.4 million
($204.95 million) takeover offer from Fletcher Building Ltd
 FBU.NZ , which it again rebuffed on grounds that it undervalues
the company.
    The new NZ$1.90 per share price is about 11.8 percent higher
than the previous offer and is at a 26.7 percent premium to
Steel & Tube's last close. 
    The offer also provides for a dividend of up to 5 New
Zealand cents per share. 
    Earlier this month, the company had dismissed an offer from
Fletcher saying it significantly undervalued the company and
would take time to clear regulatory hurdles.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WI4A2
    The company said advisers' view on Steel & Tube's intrinsic
value is between NZ$1.95 and NZ$2.36 per share, excluding the
company's share of synergies.
    "The permitted dividend does not adequately compensate
shareholders for the extended timeframe realistically required
to seek regulatory approvals," Steel & Tube added in a
statement. 
    However, the company is commissioning an independent expert
report expected to take three to four weeks to complete. 
    "The revised NBIO (non-binding indicative offer) from
Fletchers does not prevent higher value approaches from other
interested parties," Steel & Tube Chairwoman Susan Paterson said
in the statement.
    
($1 = 1.5389 New Zealand dollars)

 (Reporting by Devika Syamnath in Bengaluru
Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((Devika.Syamnath@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6749 1130; Reuters
Messaging: Devika.Syamnath.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))