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Rank Group’s takeover of Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) was confirmed today when CHH received a takeover notice from the company. Rank Group entered into an agreement with International Paper on August 17 to acquire IP’s 50.5 per cent stake in CHH.Last week CHH CEO Peter Springford said one positive aspect of the buy out for New Zealanders was that Rank too is a New Zealand owned company.
Under the New Zealand Takeovers Code, a purchase of over 20 per cent of a company’s shares requires the buyer to extend the same offer shareholders, meaning all shareholders will receive an offer for NZ$2.50 in cash.
Rank group says this is a generous offer considering CHH’s share price has only closed above $2.50 on two per cent of trading days over the past five years.
The CHH Committee of Independent Directors, including Kerry McDonald (chairman),
Helen Nugent and John Maasland, will oversee all aspects of CHH’s response to the takeover offer and Grant Samuel has been appointed to prepare the Independent Adviser’s report.
The next step is for Rank Group to issue the Takeover Offer to shareholders and this is expected in the second half of September. Around the same time, CHH will issue its Target Company Statement to shareholders, which will include the Committee of Independent Directors’ recommendation to shareholders and the Independent Adviser’s report.
