KEY POINTS:
The deadline for private equity companies to make takeover bids for SkyCity has passed without a clear-cut winner, investment sources say.
SkyCity chairman Rod McGeoch declined to say whether the company had any formal offers.
"Any proposals received by the board will be considered in its December board meeting [on December 5 and 6] and the board expects to be in a position to update shareholders following that meeting," he said.
SkyCity has been in play since September 21 when it opened the door for bidders to look at the company and make offers.
Setting the November 27 deadline last week, McGeoch said the board had a responsibility to shareholders and management to resolve ownership. The hurry-up prompted Macquarie Equities New Zealand investment director Arthur Lim to suggest the board had received limited interest.
Sources familiar with the Sky City process said there had been interest from two or three private equity players.
At the start of this week only one party - believed to be United States- based private equity TPG Newbridge Capital with Apollo Management - had completed due diligence of the company accounts.
McGeoch did not clarify a suggestion to the Business Herald the deadline had been extended.
The sources said that if any formal offer did emerge it would be in the range of $5.50 to $5.70. Shares closed up 2c yesterday at $5.20.
The board would be under pressure to report such an offer but was unlikely to recommend shareholders agree to a sale at that level, said a source familiar with the sale process.
The lack of private equity firepower for SkyCity reflects wider difficulty in financing deals. This time last year private equity companies cut a swathe in takeovers.
But the credit squeeze caused by the crisis in the sub-prime mortgage markets has made it harder to raise capital for their leveraged buyouts.
