INDEPENDENT seems to have got the price just about right with its NZ$10.50 (£4.58) a sharebid for Wilson & Horton (W & H) which values the New Zealand newspaper group at £442 million. Some of W&H's institutional shareholders have tried to put on a brave face, saying they think Independent's offer is not enough but, come November 8th, when the offer closes, don't be surprised if Independent has got enough acceptances to buy out the remaining shares.
Independent has stopped short of calling its offer final, but the chairman of the IPCL bid vehicle Mr Michael Walls has as much as said that no more money will be on the table. With Independent already holding 45 per cent of W & H, the prospect of a counterbidder waving a fat cheque does not exist.
As Mr Walls told the Christchurch Press: "What I said was that I know with absolute certainty that no one on the board of my company or on the special purpose committee of Independent Newspapers to whom I have talked to on this... sees the slightest reason for thinking the price is anything other than the top price."
The market has already signalled its approval of the W & H bid. The structure of the bid, with a preference share alternative that can convert into Independent shares, has also drawn approval from the market and Independent shares are well bid at around the 315p level, 20p above the price in the market before the W & H bid was announced.
The other main event in the week was the dreadful results from Golden Vale, although the shares have fallen so much in the previous week that even this week's figures did not send the price any lower. Some analysts even expressed relief that the results weren't worse, with one analyst commenting: "Worse than I, expected, not as bad as I feared."
While the half year figures were bad enough, what concerns the market more is the uncertainty over future earnings, and whoever - the new chief executive is, he faces a major job to restore investor confidence in the company.
Ever since the dairy companies came to the stock market, they have had to cope with suspicions that the interests of milk suppliers somehow outweigh the interests of investors. The companies have always rejected these accusations, but Golden Vale's half year results show clearly how margins and earnings have been sacrificed to keep the milk price up.
Most of the milk in Ireland in 1996 has already been produced but, come next April, when the milk begins to flow again, the market will be expecting Golden Vale and the other milk producers, to be paying their suppliers a more realistic price for their milk.
Greencore got a new lease of life this week with a report that suggested many European beet producers would suffer a poor harvest this year because of warm summer weather on the continent. Irish beet producers have suffered no such problems and beet growing conditions have been good, suggesting that a bumper crop is likely. All Greencore needs to do now is sort out its annual row with the Irish farmers' Association over the price farmers should get for their beet.
