PPCS extends bid deadline

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

PPCS has again extended its bid deadline for rival meat company Richmond as acceptances for its offer continued their glacially slow upward climb.

The Dunedin-based co-operative said yesterday the offer would close on April 20, just two days before a High Court order is due to strip the voting rights from 52 per cent of PPCS' shareholding in Richmond.

Yesterday, the company declared it had acceptances for 68.37 per cent of the company but it has already forfeited voting rights on 16 per cent. PPCS needs a 72 per cent shareholding to control Richmond should it forfeit the voting rights on all its pre-bid holding this month.

PPCS chief operating offer Keith Cooper said the offer extension preserved the company's option to take further court proceedings. An Appeal Court hearing is already scheduled for July.

Richmond chairman Sam Robinson was surprised the offer was extended.

"The Richmond directors did have unambiguous advice from PPCS that it was going to close on April 4 and we wrote to shareholders accordingly," he said.

PPCS has required Richmond to serve Section 28 notices on some shareholders, including Robinson and fellow director Rod Pearce, to establish who held relevant interests in their shares.

Cooper said PPCS was also discussing serving Section 29 notices on non-shareholders who the company believed had relevant interest in somebody else's shares.

Sources described the actions as bizarre, particularly in the case of Robinson and Pearce who continuously disclose relevant interest under NZSE listing rules.

The move essentially accused the directors of lying, the source said.