News: GTY Hometown America sweetens Gateway Lifestyle offer

July 2 (Reuters) - Hometown America sweetened its takeover bid for Australian retirement village owner Gateway Lifestyle Group (GTY) on Monday, offering to drop due diligence if the target agreed to its A$695 million ($514 million) cash offer.

Hometown said its bid, at A$2.30 cash-per-share, was superior to an identically priced offer from Canadian private equity firm Brookfield Asset Management BAMa.TO , because Gateway had promised to pay out a 5.35 Australian cents dividend during the bidding contest.

Hometown's cash offer would slip to A$2.25-a-share if Gateway was unwilling to sign a bid implementation agreement at the higher price. Gateway said it was considering the offer. ($1 = 1.3521 Australian dollars)