Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) has won a A$357m (€226.5m) takeover bid for VitalHarvest, Australia’s largest agricultural trust, beating rival bidder ROC Partners.
VitalHarvest unitholders have accepted what is the 10th offer from MIRA, ending a protracted duel between MIRA and the Sydney-based private equity group ROC which pushed the final price of the berry and citrus grower up by 33%.
MIRA’s first offer, in November last year, was to pay cash of A$1 per unit by way of a trust scheme. MIRA later made a final offer of A$1.33, matching a similar offer from ROC.
MIRA further sweetened its offer by agreeing to pay unitholders the full-year dividend of 2.5 cents per unit if the deal was completed before 30 June.
Richard McCarthy, group executive, Perpetual Corporate Trust, and a director of Vitalharvest, said: “Since November last year, when the initial offer was made public after extensive negotiations, unitholders have experienced a ~35% uplift in the value of their units and a ~71% increase from the trading price before the offer was announced.”
Vitalharvest will be taken private and bolted to Macquarie Agriculture’s expanding platform of Australian assets after receiving necessary approvals.
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