Shares in Australian agri-chemical firm Nufarm fell Tuesday after the company said it was in talks with China's Sinochem for a record 2.84 billion dollar (2.48 billion US) takeover.
Nufarm Limited announced Monday it had received a non-binding offer from state-owned Sinochem Corporation to potentially acquire all issued ordinary shares in the chemical group.
The deal, if completed, would be the largest Chinese takeover of an Australian company.
"There are 218 million shares on issue and the indicative price is 13 dollars (per share)," Nufarm spokesman Robert Reis told AFP.
Nufarm and Sinochem will work on the proposal on an exclusive basis until December 3 and any takeover would be subject to Australian and Chinese regulatory approval and that of Nufarm shareholders.
Nufarm stocks fell on the Australian stock exchange Tuesday, dropping 37 cents, or 3.1 percent, to 11.59 dollars by the end of morning trade. They had risen 7.4 percent Monday to 11.96, still below the offer price.
In November 2007 Nufarm gave conditional support to a 3.0 billion dollar takeover from a private equity consortium that included China's state-owned ChemChina. However, that takeover was derailed by the global financial crisis.
— Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this story —
Share This Article With Planet Earth
