By Ian Neubauer
Speculation over a Foster’s takeover continued to mount this week on the back of a mysterious investor who is snapping up millions of shares.
The unidentified investor has acquired more than 125 million or 6.5 per cent of Foster’s shares on issue through Deutsche Bank since late July, Fairfax Media reported.
Foster’s has refused to comment on whom the buyer may or may not be, with potential suitors Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) and Diageo also maintaining a customary code of silence.
Foster’s announced a strategic review in June to remedy its underperforming global wine business, which has been hammered by exchange rate fluctuations, the overvaluation of assets and economic uncertainty in the US and the UK —
the two largest importers of Australian wine.
Foster’s said it would wrap up the review toward the end of the year, with analysts predicting it to herald a total or partial sale of the company’s winemaking assets.
Foster’s shares were trading at $5.84 at 2:00pm today, up 31 cents or 5 per cent compared to this time last week.
The share price is defying the doom and gloom of global stock markets, with the rise attributed to the unidentified Deutsche Bank-brokered acquisition.
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