Patrick extends offer for Virgin Blue

Patrick Corp Ltd today said it had extended its takeover offer for Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd by one week.

The Australian ports operators, which held about 45.4 per cent of the low cost airline when it made its bid, has left its offer open until Tuesday, March 22.

The offer of A$1.90 ($2.04) each for the shares in the company it does not already own was set to close tonight.

Plzen, the holding company through which the offer is being made, said it would write to shareholders to notify them of the change.

Since the offer was announced on January 28, Plzen has received acceptances for some 17.9 million shares, which amounts to about 1.7 per cent of Virgin Blue's issued capital.

The would effectively give Patrick about 47.1 per cent of the airline.

Patrick chief Chris Corrigan has previously said, if he did not achieve full control of Virgin Blue, he would be happy to own more than 50 per cent to give him a greater say in how it is run.

Meanwhile, Patrick said it would also speed up the process of distributing payments to accepting shareholders.

"Plzen will dispatch payment to accepting shareholders within five business days of receiving a valid acceptance," it said.

Virgin Blue has rejected the A$1.90 a share offer as too low, saying it undervalues the airline.

Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which holds 25.1 per cent of Virgin Blue, has also said the offer was too low.

Independent expert Grant Samuel & Associates has assessed the value of Virgin Blue shares at between A$2.43 and A$2.90 each.

- AAP