GrainCorp wants details on bid

GRAINCORP says it is providing suitor Long-Term Asset Partners due diligence to put forward a more certain proposal than the $2.38 billion allcash takeover deal it currently has on the table.

The country’s largest listed bulk grain handler earlier this month received a buyout proposal from LTAP for $10.42 per share.

“LTAP proposal at this stage is not sufficiently certain or in a form which would allow the Board to make a recommendation to shareholders,” said GrainCorp chairman Graham Bradley in a letter to the shareholders of the company.

“At this stage, there is no certainty that our engagement with LTAP will result in a binding proposal for GrainCorp, what the terms of any such proposal would be, or whether it would be recommended by the GrainCorp Board.”

Mr Bradley said the LTAP proposal was just one of several potential strategic initiatives under evaluation.

In 2013 Canberra bowed to grower pressure and blocked a proposed $2.8 billion takeover of GrainCorp by US agri-giant Archer Daniels Midland Co.

GrainCorp shares were worth $9.09 after 10 minutes of trade yesterday, having spiked earlier this month on the takeover offer announcement. Drought and higher energy costs shrivelled GrainCorp’s full-year balance sheet in 2017/18, with profit dropping 43.7 per cent to $70.5 million.