F&N: ThaiBev the bidder?

As you will know, OCBC and its Great Eastern Holdings insurance unit said they had been approached with an offer to buy their combined 18.2% stake in F&N as well as their 7.9% cent holding in Asia Pacific Breweries.

FT reports that the bidder is “a unit of ThaiBev”.  It is Thailand’s largest and one of the largest beverage alcohol companies in South East Asia. Listed on SGX. Interestingly it has distilleries or breweries  in Scotland, Poland, Ireland and France, in addition to Thailand and China. Makes Chang Beer.

AIA/PRU Update at 700 hrs GMT

[Update: AIG tells Pru, "Bugger off on yr new price" ]

Reducing the price to 1.3 times its own estimate of AIA’s embedded value of $22bn (from 1.69 times) would be US$29bn, down from US$35.5bn*. Even at this new price there are UK investors unhappy with the deal.They say execution is difficult, or why risk it? But according to press reports, the Pru’s largest investor, Los Angeles-based Capital Group, indicated it will vote in favour of the deal if the price drops to US$31bn-US$32bn. Prudential declined to comment.

FT’s Lex reports Whispers among underwriters suggest AIG could sell just under half of AIA at 1.6 times its disclosed embedded value**, netting the group about $15bn.

*BTW GE Life is trading at 1.23X 2009 embedded value at its current price of $ 16.20.

**AIA’s 2009 EV is US$18.75bn but Pru has a higher number US$21.01 — 12% higher. No wonder shareholders are upset even though AIA is more traditionally more conservative than Pru. BTW at 1.6x GE is worth $21.