Wrightson offers 3 board seats to Williams & Kettle

A confident Wrightson management team yesterday unveiled post-takeover plans for rural services rival Williams & Kettle.

But the outcome of Wrightson's $4.70-a-share bid for full control of Williams & Kettle will not be known until the end of the month.

Wrightson chairman Keith Smith said his company would not take a slash-and-burn approach to the merger process.

There were obvious cost-savings to be made, but the focus would be on what was good for clients, he said.

Large-scale redundancies were unlikely.

Three Williams & Kettle representatives would be invited on to the Wrightson board and the takeover target's brand would remain intact - in the bottom half of the North Island at least.

New chief executive Barry Brooks said the merged business would be divided into two North Island regions, with the Williams & Kettle branding retained in the southern half, where it was strongest.

The company's successful Fruitfed Supplies business would not be subject to any changes.

Cost-savings from the merger would be made in areas such as IT systems, procurement, freight and logistics, said Brooks.

As expected, there would be a consolidation of rural supplies stores.

Wrightson describes its takeover bid as a "friendly" merger, although the Williams & Kettle board last week advised its shareholders to wait and see if a better offer came along.