Bid for Rubicon legitimate says GPG

By CHRIS DANIELS

GPG director Tony Gibbs has defended its two-step Rubicon takeover offer, saying the company does not launch takeover bids that are not within the rules.

The offer and complaints surrounding it are the latest twist in the labyrinthine saga of Rubicon, Guinness Peat Group, Perry Corporation and Fletcher Forests.

GPG, which already owns 19.9 per cent of Rubicon, has bid for up to 40 per cent of the remaining shares at 75c each, which would take its stake to 52 per cent.

If it fails to get more than half of Rubicon, GPG says it will ask for shareholder approval to take a cornerstone stake of between 30 and 50 per cent.

The Takeovers Panel has said the second part of the offer may breach the Takeovers Code because it does not specify a percentage of voting securities that GPG wants to own.

New York hedge fund Perry Corporation has also objected to the GPG takeover offer because its Rubicon shares are frozen by a High Court order, making it unable to dispose of them.

Gibbs said yesterday that there were factual errors in information posted on the Takeovers Panel website about the matter, but he declined to be specific.

"From GPG's point of view, our advice is that our offer complies ... We'll see what happens on Thursday."

The panel will meet GPG and Perry representatives in Auckland on Thursday to discuss the offer.

Gibbs said he did not think it strange that GPG had been granted an injunction over Perry's 15 per cent stake in Rubicon, then launched a takeover offer soon after.

GPG claims that Perry disguised the extent of its holding in Rubicon. It says Perry initially acquired 11.7 per cent and then on May 31 last year advised that its shareholding had been reduced to 4.9 per cent. But "Perry retained a relevant interest in the shares".

GPG has asked the High Court to order Perry to forfeit all of its nearly 16 per cent stake in Rubicon, for which it paid $27 million.