Fund managers reject GPG's Rubicon bid

By PAM GRAHAM

Guinness Peat Group's bid for Rubicon is being spurned by New Zealand fund managers, including 11.27 per cent shareholder AMP Henderson.

AMP, Tower Asset Management and Walker Capital Management said yesterday that they would not accept the 75c a share.

GPG's bid is designed to further an as-yet-unspecified forestry plan, possibly including influence on Fletcher Challenge Forests, in which Rubicon is the major shareholder.

A Fletcher Forests plan to buy central North Island forests from a receiver failed to get past a shareholder vote after opposition from shareholders led by GPG.

"I'd be surprised if any institutional shareholders accept [the bid]," said Wayne Stechman, head of New Zealand equities at Tower Asset Management, which owns about 5 per cent of Rubicon. He said the offer would have to be closer to the range of 98c to $1.28 in an independent report by Grant Samuel to be acceptable.

Sir Ron Brierley said on Friday that those valuations were "off the planet". GPG's Tony Gibbs was unavailable.

Nat Vallabh, portfolio manager at AMP Henderson, said his company had not made a final decision, but "at this stage the answer is no".

"Our valuation is higher than that," he said, declining to say what it was. Rubicon shares last traded at 73c.