Australia | Jul 18 2006
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
Merger and acquisition activity remains strong in Australia with shareholders of both Colorado Group (CDO) and Chiquita Brands South Pacific (CHQ) receiving an offer for their stock today.
In addition, struggling fashion retailer Oroton Group (ORL) has confirmed a strategic review, keeping market speculation about interest from private equity firms alive.
Asian buyout firm Affinity Equity Partners has finally announced a $430m takeover bid for footwear and clothing retailer Colorado Group after building up a 19.9% stake in the company through its affiliate ARH Investments Ltd. The offer is unsolicited, some may even call it "hostile", as Affinity has been unable to convince Colorado’s board of the merits of its offer, even though it tried for three months to achieve board backing.
Speculation about corporate interest for Chiquity Brands South Pacific was confirmed with Timbercorp (TIM) and Costa Group Ltd making a joint offer of $0.73 to shareholders in the struggling horticultural company.
The offer for Chiquita runs through Tradefresh Pty Ltd, a venture 35% owned by Timbercorp and 65% by Costa Group.
Conditional on the successful acquisition of Chiquita, Tradefresh has also agreed to acquire Costa Group’s existing businesses in farm management, procurement, packing, marketing and export of fresh fruit and vegetables for $94m.
Meanwhile, Oroton Group has appointed Carnegie Wylie & Company to help assess the strategic and financial impact of the various options identified in the business review and to advise the board on a course of action.
Oroton expects to provide an update on the process when it announces its FY06 result.