One of Australia’s largest companies is sold to a Japanese giant who now also owns some of our most popular beer brands
- Japanese firm Kirin buys Blackmores
- Plans to pay cash to all shareholders of the company
- Kirin already owns several Aussie brands
Japanese beer maker Kirin has made a $1.85 billion takeover offer for Blackmores.
It said on Thursday it plans to acquire a 100 percent stake in the health giant and pay all shareholders in cash.
If the deal goes through, Blackmores will be delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in early August, the Japanese company said in a statement.
Kirin is the parent company of Lion, which boasts Australian beers including Tooheys, Furphy, XXXX, Little Creatures, James Squire, James Boag, Hahn and White Rabbit.
If the deal goes through, Blackmores will be delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange in early August
On Thursday, the company confirmed that Marcus Blackmore, the group’s largest shareholder and son of founder Maurice Blackmore, had agreed to put his shares in the agreement for Kirin to buy the company.
He was previously critical of the vitamin company’s management, accusing it of making too many excuses for poor performance.
Shares of Blackmores are down 34.7 percent over the past five years.
Kirin has previously expressed a desire to diversify its business.
“Blackmores presents an exciting opportunity to transform the scale and reach of our health science field,” said Yoshinori Isozaki, president and CEO of Kirin.
“Kirin Group works to create social value and economic value by solving social problems through our business activities, and we have transformed our business from a brewing company to the business model that creates value in the Food & Beverage and Pharmaceutical fields.”
More to come
