A column in The Australian said Elders might seek to raise A$300m in a rights issue to help fund the purchase with the rest funded by debt.
The Wrightson board met on Friday to discuss the sale of the business and speculation is building that Elders has already been told it is the preferred bidder, the newspaper reported.
Wrightson said it does not have any comment on the speculation while Elders issued a statement to the ASX saying it has not made any definitive proposal to buy PGW and it evaluates all possible opportunities against a range of factors and will pursue only acquisitions make compelling strategic and financial sense for shareholders.
Wrightson is indirectly controlled by China’s Agria Corp, which owns a 50.2% stake via Agria (Singapore) but that stake has come under review by the Overseas Investment Office over whether it still meets the regulator’s good character test after being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last year.
It has previously been reported Agria wants to sell its stake and Credit Suisse (Australia) and First NZ Capital are running the sale process, having been previously hired to run a strategic review of the business.
Wrightson shares recently traded at 65 cents and have risen 5% this year. – BusinessDesk
