Fletcher Building's $A740 million ($NZ968.5 million) offer for manufacturing and building materials supplier Crane Group in Australia was revised yesterday, an upward move of A4c per share, which replaces a decline in value of Fletcher shares.
Fletcher is offering a total $A9.35 per Crane share; consisting of one Fletcher share and a cash component, which was upped to $A3.47 yesterday Crane's board had earlier rejected Fletcher's first offer before Christmas and at the time urged shareholders not to sell.
Cranes' share price subsequently rose above Fletcher's offer.
Fletcher at present has a 14.9% stake in Crane.
In an announcement to market yesterday, Fletcher general manager of investor and media relations, Philip King said the offer was revised so that it equated to the $A9.35 per share already paid to some institutional shareholders who sold shares which make up Fletcher's 14.9% stake.
Crane, which carried a net debt of $A154 million at June last year, is being forecast by brokers to deliver an after-tax profit in a range between $A38.4 million and $A39.8 million, for the full year 2011.
