It is hardly surprising that yet another NZ company may delist and go to foreign investors. Government after government have kicked tax and investment reform down the street while Kiwis prioritise pouring more and more money into inflating the price of land. Will we end up in a land owned by wealthy land-owning gentry with the landless majority working for foreign companies controlled by absentee foreign CEOs?
Disc: IFT was my first shareholding bought decades go.
"The Board engaged expert legal (MinterEllisonRuddWatts) and financial advisors (Goldman Sachs) and formed a Committee of Independent Directors in October to assist in its assessment of the proposals. The Board reviewed valuation and the proposed structure and unanimously rejected both proposals as materially undervaluing IFT’s high quality and unique portfolio of assets on a control basis. The Board also notes material conditions related to Foreign Investment Review Board and Overseas Investment Office approvals in Australia and New Zealand and considers that there are other aspects of the proposal that are unattractive to IFT shareholders, including distributing Trustpower Limited shares without recognising a control premium and avoiding the need to make a takeover offer for that business."
You hit the nail on the head! I remember listening to a speech by Maurice Williamson when he was a government minister. I got the impression that the aim was for NZ to have a high tech economy or to be "a Finland" in the South Pacific, with a high skilled highly productive workforce. Unfortunately the goal seems different these days.
Probably a bit naughty for IFT to keep the approach a secret. In most investor minds it would be material information and therefore disclosable immediately. The fact is that the market doesn't believe what the Board is saying about IFT being undervalued, otherwise the share price would already have been near the bid price wouldn't it? That this was the situation rests with the Board, who have failed to recognise that shareholder value could have been enhanced by disclosure. I feel sorry for those who sold IFT shares between 18th Oct and yesterday - they have been done a disservice by the Board.
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