The hostile $71 million takeover bid by Singaporean food giant Cerebos for listed New Zealand honey-based product manufacturer Comvita has lapsed.
Cerebos formally advised the sharemarket yesterday the offer had lapsed, and that any acceptance forms would be destroyed.
Pressure will now be on Comvita to deliver on its argument that its patient shareholders would shortly be rewarded after five years of "significant growth", albeit at a "high cost" in setting up its own product distribution network, its chairman has said in recent weeks.
The takeover offer came unstuck over the almost 40% gulf between Cerebos' share valuation and the independent valuer's, with Cerebos sticking to its original offer and not lifting the bid.
Following Cerebos' $2.50 share offer in mid-October to try to gain a 90% stake and 100% takeover of Comvita, independent valuers Grant Samuel estimated Comvita's value to be in a range of $3.40 to $4 per share - or $100.5 million to $118 million.
Comvita's share price rocketed from $1.75, beyond the $2.50 offer, to a high of $3 in late November, but has since declined to trade around $2.50.
The bid was acrimonious at times, with Comvita's board labelling the offer "unwanted and opportunistic".
Cerebos responded to the independent valuation of Comvita as requiring "a great leap of faith".
The Grant Samuel report had noted 64% of Comvita's shares were owned by the top 20 shareholders or custodians and their respective support would have been "material" to whether Cerebos achieved 90% acceptances, or the lower 50% threshold, to which it had an option to change its offer.
