Firm bids invited for Goodman Fielder shares

After 130 PowerPoint presentations on four continents, the A$2.55 billion ($2.7 billion) float of transtasman food giant Goodman Fielder yesterday entered its final phase.

Institutional investors here and in Australia, the United Kingdom, the US and Asia, were invited to lodge firm bids for shares in the company, which is to be spun out of billionaire Graeme Hart's Australian food business Burns Philp.

The investment banks leading the float - Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS, and Macquarie Bank - will accept orders until late tomorrow afternoon.

The banks will take the lion's share of up to A$85 million in flotation fees.

In the float prospectus, released last month, the company said it was looking to sell 60 to 80 per cent of Goodman at A$1.85 to A$2 a share, giving the company a market value of A$2.45 billion to A$2.65 billion. Demand for the shares has been robust.