The largest shareholder in New Britain Palm Oil has made a bid to take a majority stake in the UK-listed palm oil processor.
Palm oil plantation owner Kulim owns almost 49% of New Britain Palm Oil but announced today (20 June) plans to take that up to just under 69%.
Kulim has bid GBP5.50 a share for the extra shares, a level the Malaysia-listed firm said was a premium of over 14% of New Britain Palm Oil’s share price when the London Stock Exchange closed yesterday.
Kulim said the move was part of its strategy of “enhancing its core plantation business”. It added: “New Britain Palm Oil has been a significant contributor to the Kulim group’s plantation earnings in the past, and hence the partial offer will enable Kulim to capture a larger share of New Britain Palm Oil’s financial results upon consolidation.”
New Britain Palm Oil, which is based in Papua New Guinea, said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange it had yet to receive formal notification of Kulim’s offer. It said its board would make further announcements once the offer documents had been released.
