Reuters: Global Markets: F&N shares hit record, ThaiBev seen behind block trade

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F&N shares hit record, ThaiBev seen behind block trade Aug 10th 2012, 05:19 By Eveline Danubrata SINGAPORE | Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:19am EDT SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shares in Fraser and Neave Ltd (F&N) (FRNM.SI) rose as much as 2 percent on Friday after a block trade stoked speculation that a company controlled by a Thai billionaire may be tightening its grip on the Singapore drinks and property conglomerate, traders said. Thai Beverage PCL (TBEV.SI), whose main shareholder is Thailand's second-richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, is set to become F&N's biggest shareholder with about 24 percent of the shares. Charoen and his companies, including ThaiBev, are vying with Heineken (HEIN.AS) for influence over F&N's crown jewel, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) (APBB.SI), due to its exposure to fast-growing emerging beer markets in southeast Asia. Heineken wants to take full control of the maker of the Tiger beer brand, and last week F&N agreed to sell its 40 percent stake in APB to the Dutch brewer in a $4.1 billion deal. But there are questions over whether F&N's two largest shareholders - ThaiBev and Japan's Kirin Holdings Co Ltd (2503.T) - would support the S$50.00 a share offer, which was agreed by F&N's board but still needs shareholder approval. Traders said a block of 18.8 million F&N shares, or about 1.3 percent of the firm's issued shares, changed hands at S$8.60 apiece early in Friday's session, prompting speculation ThaiBev had raised its stake in the Singapore firm. "Most likely it's Thai Beverage and it appears that they are increasing their stake in F&N," said Jit Soon Lim, an analyst at Nomura Holdings. A ThaiBev official declined to comment. Under Singapore law, companies are required to make a general offer on acquiring 30 percent of another company, but it was not clear what ThaiBev's intentions may be. Some believe ThaiBev wants to have greater influence on F&N's decision making by raising its stake. "ThaiBev may have bought a chunk of shares from some other party so they'll have more say in the decisions," said a Singapore trader, a view echoed by other brokers. By 0310 GMT, F&N shares were up 1.2 percent at S$8.59 with nearly 23 million shares traded. The stock had earlier hit a record high of S$8.66, up 2 percent from the previous close. Shares of ThaiBev were up 1.5 percent at S$0.335. Heineken's resolve to buy out APB is being tested as the fight for a bigger slice of one of the world's fastest-growing beer markets intensifies. An investment vehicle controlled by Charoen's son-in-law, Kindest Place, has offered to buy F&N's direct 7.3 percent stake in APB. If successful, Kindest would control about 16 percent of APB. F&N is expected to report fiscal third-quarter earnings later on Friday after the stock market closes. (Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong; Writing by Denny Thomas; Editing by Kevin Lim and Alex Richardson) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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