Bidding war for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter

Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited (Murray Goulburn) announced that it has made aproposal to acquire all the issued shares in Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Company HoldingsLimited (WCB) via an off-market takeover offer for $7.50 cash per share (the Offer). This is the third takeover bid for WCB following offers from Australia’s Bega Cheese and from Canadian dairy giant Saputo.   Directors of WCB have already advised their shareholders to reject the offer made by Bega but have supported the offer made by Saputo. The board of WCB said they were unaware of Murray Goulburn’s intention to make a takeover offer until it was announced on Friday.  Therefore WCB’s directors have advised their shareholders to take NO ACTION in relation to their shares until they have time to consider the MG offer in detail.  The offer cash offer being proposed by Murray Goulburn ($7.50 per share) is 50c more than that offered by Saputo. Murray Goulburn is seeking a unanimous recommendation from the WCB Board that WCB shareholders accept Murray Goulburn’s superior Offer. Murray Goulburn believes a recommendation should be forthcoming given that Murray Goulburn’s Offer is clearly superior to Saputo’s and is above the top end of the Independent Expert’s value range for WCB.  Highlights of Murray Goulburn’s Offer for WCB shareholders $7.50 cash per Warrnambool share, valuing WCB at $420 million, which represents: 66% premium over the closing price of $4.51 per WCB share on ASX on 11 September 2013, the last trading day prior to the announcement of Bega’s offer; 7% premium to Saputo Inc.’s (Saputo) $7.00 cash per share offer and a 13% premium to the implied value of Bega’s offer, based on the closing price of Bega shares on ASX on 17 October 2013; and a price above the top end of the Independent Expert’s assessed value range for WCB, dated 12 October 2013.  Murray Goulburn’s propos