Chemical producer China National BlueStar (Group) Corp and US buyout group Blackstone Group are revising a bid for Australia's largest agricultural chemicals maker Nufarm after an initial offer of US$2.7 billion was rejected, sources said.
Nufarm spurned an offer of A$17.10 a share for the company from the two several weeks ago, the sources said. At that time, Nufarm's shares traded at about A$14 each, giving the bid a 22 per cent premium.
The new joint bid faces several hurdles, including the offer price which the sources said would be less than A$20 a share. All three companies declined to comment.
Some sources are advocating that BlueStar's parent ChinaChem Group Corp step in to make the second bid because of the size of the deal.
Others are pushing for another subsidiary, Agrichem, to take up the bid because it makes pesticides while BlueStar is more focused on industrial chemicals.
ChinaChem and Agrichem could not be reached for comment.
'A move overseas really depends on their goals and quite frankly mainland companies are not always motivated by profit but by policy,' said Kim Eng Securities' chemicals analyst Larry Grace.
