Agostini extends Prestige closing date for a fourth time

FOR A FOURTH TIME, Agostini Ltd has extended the closing date for its takeover bid of Prestige Holdings Ltd, local owners of franchises such as KFC, TGI Fridays, Subway and Starbucks.

The news of the extension came through a notice in local newspapers and on the TT Stock Exchange website on October 21.

The extension will now go to November 18.

The notice said the extension was to "await all regulatory approvals, including the approval by the merger application made to the TT Fair Trade Commission."

In June, Agostini put forward a share-swap offer that would see Agostini trade one of its shares for every 4.8 PHL shares.

It added that the offerer, Agostini, will take up and pay for all company shares deposited and not withdrawn under the offer within the period required by securities law.

The offer was originally supposed to close on July 20. The first extension went from July 21 to August 5.

The second extension went from August 5 to September 5. The third was from September 9 to October 21.

In announcing the third extension, Agostini CEO Barry Davis said the share-swap process was being delayed partially because of shareholders who misplaced their certificates or had recently passed away.

On September 10, Agostini announced it had obtained the minimum target shareholding required to facilitate the takeover.