Australian beer brewer Fosters rejects takeover offer
Steve Chiotakis: The biggest brewer in Australia, Foster’s, has rejected a $10 billion takeover from S.A.B. Miller, which brews Miller Light and Coors.
Foster’s says the offer was too low, but as Marketplace’s Stephen Beard reports, the deal is a bit of a bargain-hunting going on in a down market.
Stephen Beard: SAB Miller made its latest offer directly to Fosters’ shareholders. But the board has again urged investors to hang on for a higher price. Certainly there’s no shortage of money for takeovers in general. Corporations in the U.S. and Europe have billions of dollars sitting on their balance sheets. And they should be itching to spend it now, before cash-strapped governments get other ideas and push up their corporate tax rates, says Marc Ostwald of Monument Securities.
Mark Ostwald: We’d be better not to be too flush with cash which will be taxed heavily and rather put it to work in terms of investment rather than handing it over meekly to the taxman.
Ostwald says the recent slide in stockmarkets and the relatively cheap share prices make the takeover trail even more tempting.
In London, I’m Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
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