Vitalharvest Freehold Trust (ASX: VTH) shares were on the rise today. By the market's close, the Vitalharvest share price was trading 2.38% higher at $1.29. This came after the company announced it has accepted the latest buyout offer from Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) subsidiary Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management.
Vitalharvest is an investment trust. The company's objective is to provide unitholders with exposure to real agricultural property assets with earnings profiles exposed to the growing global demand for nutritious, healthy food.
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Takeover background
Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management (MAFM) has been in a tug-of-war over Vitalharvest shares with private equity firm Roc since earlier this year.
The tussle has now reached its eighth offer, with Vitalharvest accepting Macquarie's revised offer of $1.28 per Vitalharvest share. It's still possible, however, that Roc may submit yet another offer, further impacting the Vitalharvest share price.
For what it's worth, the Vitalharvest board has once again determined that it is in the best interests of its shareholders to accept the Macquarie proposal. Vitalharvest has already agreed to amend the scheme implementation deed – the original of which is now more than a month old – to reflect the terms of the eighth Macquarie proposal.
Other than price, this latest deal is on substantially the same terms as the existing scheme implementation.
Vitalharvest wants to wrap this up
While some long-term investors may be enjoying this unfolding story, and the rising Vitalharvest share price, the company appears to be anxious to end the stalemate, according to its release:
Consistent with maximising unitholder value and unitholders receiving any consideration on a timely basis, Vitalharvest is seeking to bring this process to a conclusion as quickly as possible in the best interests of unitholders and is conscious that any further meeting deferrals could cause implementation to be delayed past the end of the financial year.
Vitalharvest will update unitholders on the new meeting date which Vitalharvest is looking to hold as soon as possible and is anticipated to be held by early June. Vitalharvest will provide a revised date for the meeting and any further supplementary disclosure as soon as possible.
Vitalharvest share price snapshot
The Vitalharvest share price has been riding the wave of increasing takeover offers this past month, rising by almost 8%. More broadly, the company's share price has risen by around 75% over the past 12 months.
Based on its current valuation, the company has a market capitalisation of around $233 million.
