Lippo keen on 38% of Auric

Lippo keen on 38% of Auric

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Food maker Auric Pacific has confirmed that Indonesia's Lippo Group is interested in acquiring a 38 percent stake in the company, the Straits Times said on Saturday.

The daily added that Lippo group could also become the latest Indonesian conglomerate to secure a "back-door listing" in Singapore by buying the Auric stakes currently held by Pantagon and Nine Heritage.

Pantagon holds a 20.63 percent interest in Auric while Nine Heritage holds 18 percent.

The daily quoted a shareholder of Auric, Endang Utari Mokodompit, as saying in a statement on Friday that Lippo was interested in acquiring her 15 percent interest in Pantagon Holdings and 80 percent interest in Nine Heritage and discussions are continuing.

The daily also quoted a Auric spokesman as saying on Friday: "A sellout by Endang to Lippo would trigger off a mandatory general offer and that would give Lippo its first vehicle on the Stock Exchange of Singapore."

Endang leads a consortium comprising Parkway Holdings and two Singaporean businessmen which took over Auric in 1995.

Together, they control 64.95 percent of Auric, formally known as Goodman Fielder Asia, through Westront, Pantagon Holdings and Nine Heritage.

Westront is an 84-16 joint venture between Parkway and South Quay.

Pantagon is a 51-49 joint venture between Endang and Benchmark, which is in turn owned by South Quay, the GK Goh group and Malaysian businessman Azmi Wan Hamzah.