Jamaican shareholders will make a windfall when Dutch based Heineken bids US$194 million for the remaining shares in the Red Stripe brewery company it now does not own.
It could result in the delisting of Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) similar to what occurred a few years earlier when Italian based Campari bought the bulk of shares in Lascelles deMercado from Trinidad based CL Group triggering a bid for the remaining shares.
Heineken earlier this week acquired nearly three-quarters of the shares in local based brewery from UK based Diageo in a deal spanning Jamaica, Malaysia and Singapore and Ghana totalling US$780.5 million.
“In accordance with the Jamaican Takeover Code, as a result of the acquisition of Diageo’s shareholding in D&G. Heineken will in due course make a mandatory offer for all shares of D&G not already owned by Heineken. If they acquire enough shares to give them 90 percent ownership, they intend to apply the mandatory offer to compulsory acquire the rest. The minority interest represents 26.7 per cent of the issued share capital of D&G, and implies a maximum total consideration of US$ 194 million. Further announcements regarding the mandatory offer will follow in due course,” stated Heineken in a release.
Desnoes and Geddes had a bid as high as $13 per share during trading today but the stock never traded and it ended with 2,744,725 units on the bid at $10.58. The stock last traded on Wednesday at $8 well below the offer price of almost J$31 for each share with the offer priced in US dollars.
Owners in Jamaica Stock Exchange will also be in on the fortunes of the deal as the exchange will end up collecting a nice payday when the local shares are transferred. Going forward the exchange will lose the annual listing fee and fees for trading the stock on the exchange.
US$194m for minority D&G owners
October 9, 2015 by
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