E-Malt.com News article: Australia: Shareholders of Coopers Brewery Lion remove Nathan Ltd.

Shareholders of Australia's Coopers Brewery have voted to remove Lion Nathan Ltd.'s pre-emptive rights over its shares, derailing a A$420 million ($315 million) hostile bid from Lion Nathan for the unlisted brewer, Reuters communicated on December 14.

Lion Nathan's pre-emptive rights had entitled it to be offered shares that come up for sale in the brewer, after they are first offered to existing shareholders and pension fund interests.Coopers said the proposal to remove Lion Nathan's rights was supported by 93.42 % of the shares voted at a special meeting on Wednesday in Adelaide.

The rights had also exempted Lion Nathan from a rule in the Coopers constitution that prevents the sale of shares to a competitor. Removal of the rights effectively halts its A$310 per share bid, raised last month from A$260 per share.

But Lion Nathan said a range of legal action underway could leave the door open for it to pursue a takeover of the maker of Coopers Sparkling Ale and Coopers Original Pale Ale.

"I think there is a bit of water to go under the bridge before this is over," CommSec senior analyst Grant Saligari said.

"You are talking about an asset that is important to Lion, and the rights themselves obviously had some value, and from a shareholder point of view it has to defend those rights to the extent that they can."

Coopers Managing Director Tim Cooper said Lion Nathan had been unsuccessful to date in the court battles between the two companies and had little chance of success through that avenue.

"We would not have thought there is merit pursuing us in further litigation," he told Reuters. "The shareholders are very happy for us to be left alone to continue what we do best, which is run as an independent brewery in Australia."

"Our offer will remain open and in the event that our rights are reinstated we will put our case to shareholders again," Lion Nathan Chief Executive Rob Murray said in a statement on December 14.

1=A$1.33



14 December, 2005