Guoco gains control of BIL

Hong Kong listed Guoco Group has succeeded in gaining a controlling stake in BIL International.

BIL was formerly New Zealand corporate raider Sir Ron Brierley's Brierley Investments Ltd. Its main listing is on the Singapore stock exchange, but it also has a secondary listing on the New Zealand sharemarket.

BIL's main asset is the British-based Thistle hotel group.

According to a notice on the Singapore stock exchange Guoco Group ended up with a 50.76 per cent stake in BIL following a takeover offer which opened in July.

Guoco, which is controlled by Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, originally offered $S1.20 ($1.02) a BIL share. Last month the company upped its offer to $S1.25 a share - which valued BIL at $S1.71 billion.

This morning on the New Zealand sharemarket BIL was up 5c, or 5.05 per cent, at $1.04, having hit as high as $1.12 during the takeover offer period.

- NZPA