PPCS battle back in court

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agriculture editor

The Richmond-PPCS takeover battle returns to the courtroom today - just as the southern co-operative was about to send its offer to Richmond shareholders.

In November, the High Court penalised PPCS for breaching Richmond's constitution and ordered it to achieve a 90 per cent takeover or lose all control of the Hawkes Bay company.

In a January 6 notice of intention to take over Richmond, PPCS included a fallback position - to a 50 per cent stake - should it fail to achieve a 90 per cent holding.

Robin Bell, spokesman for the 10-member Richmond shareholder Bell Group, said it questioned PPCS' ability to waive the 90 per cent threshold.

"We think that is not permissible and we flagged that in a letter of objection to PPCS," he said.

PPCS refused to accept the concern was legitimate so the group had put the matter before Justice William Young, who made the original order.

PPCS spokesman Keith Cooper said the offer was done in accordance with the Takeovers Code.

The company had to mail its offer by 5pm today to reach Richmond shareholders by Friday - the January 24 deadline for the offer ordered by the court, he said.

The judge would need to okay the offer in its current form today for the company to be able to go ahead with its mail-out. Or he could extend the deadline, Cooper said.

"We can't do both. We can't hold it and meet the timeline."

Richmond chairman Sam Robinson said the company would be represented to ensure its position was known but the challenge had been raised by the shareholder group.

Bell said the judge's order resulted from a case it took so "we have to make the running because of the nature of the issue".

Meanwhile, Bell said he was unaware Lowe Corporation and Bernard Matthews' North Meats were going to take significant stakes in Richmond "but to the extent that it is a vote of confidence in the company and the industry, we welcome their involvement".

Lowe has taken an 8 per cent stake in Richmond and North Meats a 4.3 per cent holding. Together, they could block the PPCS takeover.

Bell said he had no idea of the two companies' plans.

Cooper said PPCS had had no discussions with the companies and was concentrating on getting its offer to Richmond shareholders.