SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s leading dairy producer and branded foods company, Clover Industries Limited said that its shareholders are set approve the more than US$332 million buyout offer from Milco by the end of March this year.
The buyout bid was led by Milco’s Central Bottling Company (CBC) SA who made the offer at US$1.86 (ZAR 25) a share to Clover shareholders, a 25% premium by the time of the offer.
Speaking during the release of the results in the six months to end December period, Johann Vorster, chief executive at Clover said that the transaction is yet to be approved by Clover’s shareholders as the company remains focused to its operations.
“The shareholders will vote on the deal on March 29. It is exciting to see the interest in Clover as this is testament to what we have achieved to reposition the business and enhance its value.
The Milco transaction will follow due process and is in shareholders hands now. For us it is business as usual to ensure we continue to deliver against our strategy,” Vorster said.
If the transaction sees the light, approximately 78.7% of the shares will be held by Milco Mauritius International Limited, in which 59.5% stake will be held by International Beer Breweries Limited (IBBL), a subsidiary of CBC.
Brimstone will hold 15% stake in the firm, IncuBev Limited will hold a 8.3% stake, 10.9% stake will be held by Ploughshare Investments Limited while a 6.3% stake will be retained by the executive management of Clover.
However, protests by a pro-Palestinian activist group Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) South Africa has made Brimstone to review its participation in the consortium.
Milco had said that it is confident that the acquisition will help Clover boost its performance especially owed to its strong management and business expansion capabilities.
During its most recent half year period, Clover reported 4.1% increase in revenue to US$309.66 million mainly driven by a 5.6% increase in volumes and a 3.1% increase in selling prices.
Clover operates its business in the food and beverage industry under the dairy fluids, dairy concentrated products, ingredients, non-alcoholic beverages
Currently, the firm has more than 8,500 employees and a market
