Founder Sir Stephen Tindall and his foundation, owning 48.7%, supports the scheme of arrangement and will remain invested in the company. The Warehouse said the proposal is incomplete and conditional and there can be no certainty any transaction will eventuate.
Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the takeover offers were a testament to the value available in the market.
“The worm has turned and investor sentiment is looking up,” he said. “Private equity bids take a while to surface and they have pulled the trigger on where they see the market in 18 months’ time.
“The market has been undervalued for some time and everyone has been waiting for signals of interest rate cuts. The retail sector, for instance, has been struggling and there’s a view that it may be bottoming.”
Sullivan said there was still a lot of water to go under the bridge with The Warehouse bid as the directors weren’t onside.
“Once the experts have a look at the bid, there could be an increased offer. Still, The Warehouse share price was only $1.05 last Friday.”
Arvida and The Warehouse are in the NZX top 50 and if the takeovers go through, two more stocks will need to be added.
The retirement and retail sectors were again buoyant after the takeover offers. Oceania Healthcare rose 6c or 8.45% to 77c; Summerset Group added 28c or 2.64% to $10.88; Ryman Healthcare was up 5c to $4.51; Hallenstein Glasson gained 9c to $5.59; and KMD Brands increased 2c or 4.76% to 44c.
Market leader Fisher & Paykel Healthcare rose 80c or 2.51% to a 32-month high of $32.65; a2 Milk gained 9c to $7.61; Gentrack increased 25c or 2.38% to a new high of $10.75; Mainfreight was up 82c to $75.40; and Freightways collected 7c to $8.83.
Insurer Tower continued its strong run, increasing 4c or 4.02% to $1.035 and rising from 61c on February 12.
Among leading banking groups, ANZ added 65c or 2% to $33.15 and Westpac was up 50c to $31.60.
Other gainers were Eroad increasing 4c or 3.08% to $1.34; Tourism Holdings up 5c or 2.3% to $2.22; ikeGPS rising 7.5c or 15.79% to 55c after a strong quarterly update; and Restaurant Brands improving 12c or 3.75% to $3.32.
Seafood exporter Sanford was up 10c or 2.46% to $4.17; Serko added 6c to $3.88; Steel & Tube increased 2c or 2.17% to 94c; and Radius Residential Care gained 0.004c or 2.04% to 20c.
In the property sector, Precinct was up 3.5c or 2.87% to $1.255, and Property for Industry gained 4c or 1.86% to $2.195.
Fletcher Building, up 4c to $3.36, earlier announced a new independent director, Tony Dragicevich, managing director of Capral, Australia’s largest aluminium extrusion manufacturing and distribution business.
Ventia Services, up 3c to $4.70, has extended its Firefighting Services contract, worth $564m, for six years with the Australian Defence department. Ventia has the largest privatised firefighter force in Australia with 370 people.
Port of Tauranga was down 7c to $5.53; Turners Automotive fell 17c or 3.87% to $4.22; Blackpearl Group decreased 2c or 2.67% to 73c; Being AI declined 0.004c or 9.09% to 4c; and hospitality operator Savor declined 0.007c or 3.59% to 18.8c.
Colonial Motor Co was down 15c or 2.16% to $6.80 after telling the market the removal of tax depreciation on commercial buildings will create a one-off accounting adjustment of $12.7m to the full-year profit. The net profit will not be affected.
Chatham Rock Phosphate, down 0.003c or 2.73% to 10.7c, has completed its offer of 878,000 shares and raised $87,800 for fast-tracking the Korella North mine development in Queensland and continuing the permit process for the Avenir Makatea phosphate project in French Polynesia.
