KEY POINTS:
The complete takeover of Kidicorp looks assured after Fisher Funds Management said yesterday that it would accept founder Wayne Wright's buyout offer.
With control of 19.9 per cent of the listed childcare company, Fisher Funds had enough shares to block the 24c a share offer.
But its acceptance means Wright - with 54.6 per cent of the company after a partial takeover last year - will almost certainly win enough shares to effect a full takeover.
The offer is conditional on Wright winning 90 per cent of the stock so he can compulsorily acquire the entire company.
Fisher Funds chief investment officer Warren Couillault said "the outlook for the company and its prospects and its investment rating in our system here for ranking all our companies had slipped".
Also, said Couillault, the takeover price for the country's largest private childcare operator was in the fair value range of 24c to 31.1c in the independent report by Grant Samuel.
According to the report, Kidicorp has underperformed the benchmark NZX-50 index by 120 per cent since 2003.
Couillault said although Kidicorp had increased the number of childcare centres and its revenue, this had not flowed through to profits because of the increasing cost of employing childcare staff, management changes and the complexity of the business.
Kidicorp's independent directors have not finalised their recommendation on the offer, but observers expect it to succeed.
Four years after listing Kidicorp on the sharemarket, Wright wants to privatise it again because he says he doesn't need shareholders' money and is unlikely to pay dividends in the future.
Kidicorp shares closed at 22c yesterday.
