[Intl-tobacco] B.A.T PLC To Buy Remaining B.A.T Australasia

[Robert Weissman]

B.A.T PLC To Buy Remaining B.A.T Australasia
by Graham Morgan / Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-8235-2962;
graham.morgan@dowjones.com
Source: The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Monday, 1/29/01

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)-British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) said Tuesday it
plans to buy the remaining shares in British American Tobacco Australasia
Ltd. (A.BAM)  it doesn't already own.

The parent company intends to pay A$17.75 a share in cash for the 40.5% of
the Australasia unit held by other investors, the Australasia unit said in
a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

In addition, BAT Australasia plans to declare a final dividend of 45 cents
a share at the time of the release of its preliminary final results Feb.
28. This effectively values the offer at A$18.20 a share.

The proposal to buy the remaining stake in BAT Australasia, values
minority equity interest in the stake at A$1.11 billion. This is at a 40%
premium to the one-month weighted average share price of A$13.01,
according to BAT Australasia.

"The independent directors unanimously recommend to minority shareholders
of BAT Australasia that they vote in favor of the scheme, as it represents
an opportunity to maximize the value of their investment in BAT
Australasia for a consideration, which, subject to the opinion of an
independent expert, the independent directors view as being in the best
interests of minority shareholders," BAT Australasia Chairman Nick Greiner
said.

BAT Australasia expects to tender the scheme to shareholders at its annual
general meeting in late April, and hopes the transaction will be finalized
by mid May.

Shares in BAT Australasia, which are highly illiquid, last traded at
A$13.90, and haven't started trading Tuesday. Around 2335 GMT, the All
Ordinaries index was up 19.2 points at 3283.3.

URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=DI-CO-20010129-007588.djml