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.
To read the digital edition of the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
