Neal and Massy Holdings Limited was this week evaluating its next move after it was blindsided by a court injunction secured by rival AMCL Holdings Limited, a Barbados-registered subsidiary of the ANSA McAL group.Its response to the injunction is expected to be heard in Barbados, around January 8.
The Trinidad conglomerate has been barred for now from taking up the 43 million of Barbados Shipping and Trading Limited (BS&T) shares that were tendered under its B$8.50 cash and shares offer to buy the company.
Increased stake
Neal and Massy, which already owns 27.9 per cent of BS&T, said the tendered shares would have increased its stake by 56.6 per cent, to 84.4 per cent, according to CEO Bernard Dulal-Whiteway.
But ANSA which had launched a rival hostile bid for BS&T in July only to withdraw in October after a bidding war between Neal and Massy and its wholly owned subsidiary AMCL - a newly created vehicle to effect the take-over - has successfully petitioned the court to bar Neal and Massy's take up of the shares.
ANSA's actions effectively scuttled a previous merger deal that Neal and Massy and BS&T had cobbled with ambitions of being the largest conglomerate in the region.
But in the months of rivalry that followed, AMCL was eventually outmanoeuvred by Neal and Massy chairman, Arthur Lok Jack, who commented publicly that his company's B$8.50 bid was as high as it could go, and signalled that he might not be averse to selling the current holdings in BS&T to AMCL, whose bid had reached B$10.
Withdrawn bid
AMCL withdrew its own bid within a day of the published comments, citing as its reason a business deal that it said BS&T was pursuing, saying it could affect the company's material value.
But as AMCL withdrew, Neal and Massy issued a statement that its offer was still on the table, a position endorsed by BS&T.
Neal and Massy has promised to respond to the injunction which was obtained ex parte by AMCL, but notes that in the interim it cannot take up or pay for the tendered shares.
business@gleanerjm.com
