re: u.s. gorilla stalks with troupe
Y offer now seems less likely to succeed, although never say die..........
"YARRAMAN Winery is refusing to give up in its quest to acquire debt-ridden West Australian winemaker Evans & Tate, despite the official expiry of its offer on Tuesday. E&T declared on Friday that it would not accept the scrip-based offer in its current form, making the Tuesday deadline effectively redundant. A company spokesman said there had been no change in E&T's position and no further negotiations were being held between Yarraman and the E&T board. Nonetheless, a source close to Yarraman said it was continuing to discuss the terms of a possible deal with a number of people from E&T.
Yarraman has offered one of its own shares for every nine ordinary shares in E&T and two Yarraman shares for every nine E&T preference shares. Holders of E&T's convertible notes were offered 50c per $1 note, while $90 million owed to ANZ bank would be repaid by $70 million in cash and $20 million in Yarraman convertible notes.
Yarraman this week filed documents with the Australian Securities Exchange that revealed the company had originally intended to make an even lower offer comprising one of its own shares for each 15 shares in E&T, and one Yarraman share for each 6.3 convertible notes. E&T's objections to the offer are understood to centre on Yarraman's scrip, which trades on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board exchange in the US - a highly illiquid, second-tier market.
Yarraman said last week that it hadn't discussed the possibility of making a cash-based offer for the company, despite making a deal to pay 20c cash per share to major E&T shareholder Franklin Tate in return for a 19.9 per cent stake
ETW Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
