Rubicon bid a failure

Guinness Peat Group's takeover bid for Rubicon closed yesterday with the investment company failing to gain control.

GPG had 25.8 per cent of the company on Thursday and director Tony Gibbs said he probably got another 0.5-1 per cent on the final day.

"It looks like we obviously haven't got to our target," he said. Under no circumstances was GPG walking away, he said.

The company would pursue its court case against Rubicon shareholder Perry Corp, which is next in court on December 9.

Five fund managers banded together this week to publicly reject GPG's offer of 75c a share. The offer was conditional on getting at least half of the company.

Wayne Stechman, New Zealand equities manager at Tower Asset Management, said institutions took a collective approach to the rejection of GPG's bid for Rubicon but "we are not making any judgments about what Perry is doing with GPG".