SanfordSecurities appears to have lost its battle to stave off attempts byIWLin taking a majority stake in the group after the latter stated its holding had risen to 58.2 per cent late on Friday.
The leap in the holding of Sanford by IWL was largely due to the National Australia Bank’s (NAB) and a founding shareholder accepting the IWL offer, which jumped from 24.2 per cent on Wednesday.
The acceptance by NAB, who held 8 million Sanford shares, or 13.7 per cent of the company, gave the takeover bid a shot in the arm after the offer was set to close at 5pm on Friday but has been now extended to April 17.
IWL has indicated that as part of taking the majority stake it would push for greater board representation.
It has also further urged Sanford shareholders to take the IWL offer stating that discussions held by Sanford with other groups had not yielded any result and other offers would not be successful due to IWL’s majority stake.
Sanford company secretary Anthony Benino says, “The next stage for the independent directors is to consider their position in the light of IWL’s now majority shareholding in the company.”
The independent directors are chairman Clive Hall, former National Bank appointee to the board, Robert McKay and up until last week Sanford chief executive Stephen Goh, who remains on the board as a non-executive director and has a 10 per cent share holding in the company.
The directors had been encouraging shareholders to reject the IWL offer.
In responding to Friday’s developments IWL chief financial officer Luke Littlefield says, “We’re still reviewing the acceptances and will be looking to meet with the Sanford management and board over the next two weeks.”
“We believe our offer is a compelling offer, and this can be seen given NAB’s acceptance… the ball sits at the director’s feet at the moment and it’s up to them to decide what they’re going to do now,” Littlefield says.
Benino says the IWL bid has not been hostile and the company continues to work with it in reaching a beneficial outcome.
“It’s business as usual and we look forward to having everything bedded down one way of another,” he says.
