London-based company plans to buy Agritech

Takeover turns into a two horse-race as Fauji Fertiliser Company has already shown interest.


Express December 14, 2010

KARACHI: A London-based company, Ashmore Investment Management Limited, has expressed interest in acquiring Agritech Limited (AGL) on Tuesday through its fund, the Ashmore Global Special Situations Fund 5, and plans to purchase 80 per cent of the company’s shares.

Ashmore Global Special Situations Fund Five, launched in 2008, primarily invests in private equity and other debt instruments in emerging markets. It contains $41.6 billion, as of September 2010, in pooled funds, segregated accounts and structured products.

Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited (FFC) in August had also showed keen interest in buying 80 per cent or approximately 313 million shares of Agritech Limited. The acquisition of the company will increase the production capacity of FFC by 22 per cent, according to a KASB Securities analyst.

Currently, Azgard Nine holds an 80 per cent stake in Agritech, informed a notice sent to the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday.

AGL’s deal price is expected to be around Rs29 to Rs30 per share, which implies that the deal will be valued between Rs9.1 and Rs9.4 billion, estimated an analyst.AGL’s stock price fell 0.2 per cent during Tuesday’s trading at the KSE to close at Rs23.74 per share.

Agritech was originally a fully owned subsidiary of Azgard Nine, acquired in July 2006 at a cost of Rs16.1 billion. AGL later acquired a 100 per cent equity stake in Hazara Phosphate for Rs1.3 billion in November 2008.

However, Azgard Nine has recently successfully sold 20.13 per cent of its shareholding comprising 79.01 million shares of AGL at a price of Rs30 per cent share, raising Rs2.37 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune December 15th, 2010.

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