Australian partnership eyes Metlifecare

An Australian joint venture is gearing up to launch a full takeover offer for retirement village operator Metlifecare.

Retirement Village NZ, a jv between Macquarie Bank and Australian property company FKP, has said it would offer $3.75 a share in a conditional takeover offer for the company.

Before that can happen, major Metlifecare shareholder Cliff Cook, through his company Private Healthcare (PHC), has to offer Todd Lifecare the chance to launch a bid under the same terms.

PHC owns a 25 per cent stake in Metlifecare, while Todd owns 35 per cent.

Under a 1999 shareholder agreement, Todd has a pre-emptive option on PHC's stake. This means Mr Cook first has to offer his shares to Todd at the same price Retirement Village is offering.

A "drag-along" provision in the agreement means that if Todd does not agree to buy PHC's stake, it will have to sell its holding to Retirement Villages NZ. Todd has until November 3 to act on the offer.

In April, the stock exchange was told Mr Cook had offered his 21.7 million shares to Todd Capital for $3.72 each, or $80.7 million. But the deal fell over.

Shares in Metlifecare were up 1c in this morning and were trading bang on the $3.75 offer price.

- NZPA