In a presentation to a shareholder meeting called to approve the offer, Lion Nathan said that the deal has already received enough proxy votes to give it 97.5% approval. Kirin Holdings already owned 47% of Lion and made an offer in May worth A$12.00 per share, or A$3.4 billion, for the rest of the group.
The takeover will allow Kirin to tie the maker of XXXX, Tooheys, Boag’s, James Squire, Heineken, Beck’s and Hahn beers with its National Foods dairy and juice group in Australia, including the Dairy Farmers milk group, to make it the biggest single supplier to Australia’s supermarkets.
After shareholders approved the takeover, Lion Nathan chairman Geoff Ricketts said the trans-Tasman brewer would remain very much an Australasian company in the hands of its Japanese owner.
“It’s an end of a chapter rather than an era,” he said. “As one chapter closes, another one opens. The company isn’t disappearing. It will still be a great Australasian company. It’s going to be renamed Lion Nathan National Foods. It will employ 10,000 people in the market, and it will have the brands in the market.
“The ownership does move to a 100% Kirin, but they demonstrated over 10 years that they’re prepared to invest in the business and employ good people. So the company will carry on.”
Source: The Age
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