Australian brewer Foster’s has urged its shareholders to reject a bid from takeover suitor SABMiller. The Foster’s Board believes the offer “significantly undervalues” the company and has written to shareholders asking them to spurn SABMiller’s offer to buy all the shares in the company at a price of $4.90 per share. In a letter sent to shareholders today, Foster’s chairman David Crawford wrote, “Your board unanimously recommends you reject SABMiller’s... ...Read more »

The Federal Government’s Takeovers Panel has rejected accusations from multinational brewer SABMiller that statements published in Foster’s Group Limited’s full year results were “misleading” and “deceptive”. SABMiller’s submission to the Takeovers Panel had raised issues about certain forward-looking financial statements and a pro forma net debt in the Foster’s results presentation. On 17 August 2011, SABMiller announced that it intended to make a conditional off-market takeover... ...Read more »

Multinational brewer SABMiller has accused Australian brewing giant Foster’s Group Limited of making “misleading” and “deceptive” statements in its recently published end-of-year results. It is the latest clash between the two breweries, with SABMiller continuing its drive to purchase Foster’s Group Limited. In a submission to Federal Government’s Takeovers Panel, SABMiller accuses Foster’s of having “no reasonable basis for several forward-looking statements” in the results presentation... ...Read more »

In its latest move to fend off a takeover bid by multinational brewer SABMiller, Australian brewing giant Foster’s Group Limited plans to return A$500 million to its shareholders through a share buyback or capital reduction. As well as announcing the buyback bid, Foster’s today released its full year results which show an 8.7 per cent fall in profit and a net loss of A$89 million for the year to June 30 2011. A strong credit profile and proceeds from the Ashwick tax case have led the Foster’s... ...Read more »

London-based multinational brewer SABMiller has mounted a more aggressive approach in its attempt to take over the Australian-based Foster’s Group Limited. SABMiller has announced it is taking it is bypassing the Foster’s Group Limited board and making a A$4.90 per share bid directly to the shareholders. The new direct offer to the shareholders comes just days ahead of the release of Foster’s fiscal-year financial results. The market is expecting these to be poor. “As there has been... ...Read more »

London-based SABMiller is expected to offer a renewed bid to acquire all shares in Foster’s Group Limited after the Australian brewer releases its full year results on 23 August 2011. In June, Foster’s rejected SABMiller’s A$11.2bn bid to buy all shares in the company. The Board of Foster’s said the proposal “significantly undervalued the company”. The Foster’s share price has now fallen below SABMiller’s original bid price and, according to reports, SABMiller has assembled a multi-billion-dollar... ...Read more »

SABMiller has confirmed that it has made a non-binding, conditional proposal to the Board of Directors of Foster’s Group Limited to acquire all of Foster’s shares for A$4.90 per fully paid share in cash.The proposal to acquire Foster’s is in line with SABMiller’s strategy to create an attractive global spread of businesses. Australia has a strong, wealthy and growing economy with consistent long term population growth, and is well positioned to benefit from continued economic... ...Read more »

At a time when wine seems to be getting cheaper and cheaper, Vok Beverages – a joint venture partner of Foster’s – is planning to go the other way by raising prices in a bid to draw consumers away from bargain-basement wine. Vok, which teamed with Foster’s in late-2009, sells a number of brands with Australia’s largest alcoholic beverage group; the most well-known being the Queen Adelaide brand. The privately owned group will be upping the price of Queen Adelaide from... ...Read more »

Food businesses around Australia have pitched in for relief efforts in the Queensland floods, offering donations, matching employee contributions, allowing customers to donate directly, and supplying food for those affected and volunteers. Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths have both allowed customers to donate to flood charities at point of sale, with Coles raising $2.6 million and donating a further $1 million to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal, and Woolworths raising over $5.3 million... ...Read more »

All Australians have been shocked and saddened by the impact of the floods in Queensland this week, and many businesses and individuals have shown incredible generosity in their donations of time, money and goods to the affected communities. Coles customers have now donated over $1 million to help the victims of the Queensland flood disaster.  Coles Operations Director Stuart Machin said the customer donation tally was in addition to the $1 million Coles has donated to the QLD Premier’s Disaster... ...Read more »