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Australian retailing giant Woolworths is taking its fight to bid for The Warehouse to New Zealand's highest court.
Woolworths yesterday announced that it was seeking leave from the Supreme Court to appeal against the recent decision setting aside its clearance to bid for the country's largest listed retailer.
The Court of Appeal had last month overturned a High Court decisiongiving rival supermarket operators Woolworths and Foodstuffs the green light to bid for the Red Sheds.
Foodstuffs and Woolworths each have a 10 per cent stake in The Warehouse, and had earlier gone to the High Court to overturn a Commerce Commission decision blocking a potential takeover.
Woolworths said its application for leave was to be filed "shortly", but Foodstuffs was still considering its options.
Managing director Tony Carter said no decisions had yet been made. Foodstuffs has until the end of the month to appeal.
With the resumption of the legal process, the fate of The Warehouse is likely to remain uncertain over the near future - nearly two years after founder Stephen Tindall revealed plans to privatise in September 2006.
His plans were trumped by Woolworths' financial firepower, when weeks later it bought a 10 per cent stake at $6.50 a share.
Speculation has been rife that Tindall may relaunch his bid to buy back the Red Sheds in partnership with private equity, given The Warehouse's share price deterioration following last month's Court of Appeal decision, and the overall weak sharemarket.
A move like that would not require the regulatory clearance the rival supermarket suitors needed.
The Commerce Commission had fought Foodstuffs and Woolworths on the grounds that the 85-store chain could potentially become a strategic third player in the $7 billion grocery duopoly through the Extra format.
The High Court disagreed, but the Court of Appeal sided with the competition watchdog.
"We do not share the High Court's confidence that the evidence of Extra's impact on Woolworths and Foodstuffs to date demonstrates that it is unlikely to have any competitive impact in the future," the Court of Appeal decision said.
The court acknowledged that Extra stores were disappointing up until July 2007. But it said the case could not be determined by arguing that the Extra stores would be abandoned.
