KEY POINTS:
The founders of cosmetic appearance company, the Caci Group, have launched a takeover bid after niggles about the worth of being a listed company.
David and Jackie Smith plan to offer 38c per share for Caci through their investment vehicle, Cosmedex Investments.
Mr Smith is the Caci Group's managing director.
The Smiths control 58 per cent of Caci and claim to already have pre-bid acceptances from 85 per cent of shareholders, including themselves.
Mr Smith said Caci's lack of financial performance along with a limited liquidity of shares had resulted in a lacklustre sharemarket performance.
"Many of the purported benefits of being a listed company have remained elusive.
"We struggled with some of the initial problems of the NCM market and carried our problems into the NZAX. We have never provided a sufficient return on shareholders funds to warrant remaining a listed public company," he said.
Mr Smith said that in the five years since listing, Caci had approached many target companies with a view to acquisition or merger, but for one reason or another the negotiations had never been fruitful.
"In addition, the burden of compliance and being a public company has been felt on Caci profitability."
The lack of liquidity meant a number of the larger shareholders had not been able to exit , Mr Smith said. The offer would allow them to regain their capital.
He said the offer price was a 52 per cent premium to the company's volume weighted average trades on the NZAX over the last three months, of 25cps.
- NZPA
