David Williams, adviser to Bega Cheese during the three-way bidding war for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, has said that in addition to gaining $100m by selling its stake in WCB, Bega also saw its capital rise by $300m, placing it as an ASX top 200 company.
WCB was the subject of a three way bidding war between Bega Cheese, Murray Goulburn and Canadian dairy processor Saputo over the past six months. Saputo came through with a successful bid on 12 February after achieving 87.92 percent of voting power in the company.
According to The Weekly Times Now, Williams told Sydney’s Global Food Forum that Bega won the ‘first prize’ in the battle for WCB.
“We started the bidding at $5.68 (a WCB share) and the next thing it looks like we were bidding $9.20,” he said.
“So the second prize suddenly became the first prize because we took $100 million for very little cost.
“Bega’s market capitalisation went up $300 million and it has gone up further and stayed there.
“From Bega’s perspective, it was a massive win.”