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  • The bidding war for Vitalharvest (VTH) continues as the VTH board accepts Macquaire’s fresh bid, trumping the previous Roc offer
  • Vitalharvest recently received a revised offer from Roc to acquire all of the units in VTH for $1.27 per unit or the assets of VTH for $349.95 million
  • Shortly after receiving the seventh Roc Offer, MAFM provided a further modified proposal for $1.28 per unit or $351.8 million for the assets of VTH
  • Last week, MAFM exercised a call option to acquire 30 million units in VTH held by the trust’s manager Primewest, approximately 16.2 per cent of the total units
  • Vitalharvest Freehold Trust has four berry and three citrus properties spread across New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia
  • Vitalharvest Freehold Trust is up 1.79 per cent to trade at $1.28 per share

The bidding war for Vitalharvest (VTH) continues as the VTH board accepts Macquaire’s fresh bid, trumping the previous Roc offer.

Vitalharvest recently received a revised offer from Roc to acquire all of the units in VTH for $1.27 per unit or the assets of VTH for $349.95 million.

Shortly after receiving the seventh Roc Offer, Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management (MAFM) provided a further modified proposal for $1.28 per unit or $351.8 million for the assets of VTH.

The VTH board has now accepted the MAFM offer and have recommended that in absence of a superior proposal and subject to independent evaluation, that VTH unitholders accept the latest bid.

The eighth MAFM proposal permits the payment of the 2.5c per unit interim distribution from rent received to 31 December 2020

A unitholders meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, however, this has now been postponed so unitholders can evaluate the new bid.

“VTH RE is seeking to bring this process to a conclusion as quickly as possible in the best interests of unitholders and is conscious that any further meeting deferrals could cause implementation to be delayed past the end of the financial year,” the board of the trust said in an announcement.

Last week, MAFM exercised a call option to acquire 30 million units in VTH held by the trust’s manager Primewest, approximately 16.2 per cent of the total units.

On April 26, the Vitalharvest board recommended the MAFM takeover bid to the unitholders of $1.24 per unit, but the bid was subject to the absence of a superior offer, which Roc later provided.

This followed from a drawn-out bidding war between Macquarie and Roc, which started with Macquarie’s original offer of $1 per unit or the assets for $300 million in early November 2020.

In February this year, Roc first entered the party with a $1.08 per unit or $314.8 million offer.

Vitalharvest Freehold Trust has four berry and three citrus properties spread across New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia.

Vitalharvest Freehold Trust is up 2.78 per cent to trade at $1.30 per share at the end of the trading day.

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