Saputo increases WCB offer

Saputo has increased its offer to acquire all the shares of Warrnambool Cheese & Butter (WCB) to $8.00 cash per share. The WCB board has once again unanimously recommended that WCB shareholders accept the offer.

“Each Warrnambool director and executive has also reaffirmed their intention to accept the Offer for all of the Warrnambool shares they hold or otherwise control in the absence of a superior proposal,” Saputo said in a statement.

Murray Goulburn (MG), however, has not given up hope of acquiring the company and has urged WCB shareholders to consider the offer carefully before accepting. MG currently owns 17.7% of WCB.

Meanwhile, independent Senator Nick Xenophon has argued that the potential foreign takeover highlights flaws in Australian foreign investment laws.

“Our foreign investment rules in this country are a joke. They are so vague, so ambitious, as to be useless,” Xenophon said to ABC News.

“We need to look at what the New Zealanders have been doing for a number of years now. Effectively, it doesn’t stop foreign investment, but it sets out the rules much more clearly. There is a much better definition of the national interest test.

“The government, the Treasurer, needs to look very carefully at the potential job impact, what it means in terms of local ownership and control, in terms of big decisions being made in terms of plant, equipment and product lines.

“To lose that to an overseas company is a real worry.”