Aggressive Rubicon Tactics Show Tenon Bid Not Appealing Enough
The Chairman of Tenon Limited, Sir Dryden Spring, issued the following statement today.
“Rubicon’s increasingly aggressive takeover tactics demonstrate their bid for Tenon is not winning over enough
shareholders.
“All we have seen so far is acceptances from a number of institutional investors who had already signalled their
willingness to take the Rubicon offer. “Beyond that, the Rubicon offer is not gaining any momentum.
“That’s why we are seeing Rubicon make so many last minute moves to tout the offer to shareholders – such as paying
handling fees to third parties whose clients accept the offer, setting up a phone centre to cold-call shareholders,
sending another mail-out over the weekend, and presenting those previously signalled acceptances as if they were
something new.
“Rubicon’s real problem is that they are not prepared to pay Tenon shareholders full value for their shares. They only
want 50.01% of the company’s shares, and they have not demonstrated to our shareholders that they have any new
strategies to improve the company’s performance.
“The lack of any new strategies for Tenon isn’t likely to impress shareholders who’ve observed the major turnaround in
the company’s performance over the last year, which has created real shareholder value.
“Tenon has been transformed to deliver real value to shareholders – with forest sales well above their share price
values, surplus capital going back into shareholders’ hands, and core businesses generating profits that are well ahead
of expectations.”