P.M. BRIEFING : BAT Loses Appeal Against Takeover
LONDON — Britain’s BAT Industries PLC lost an appeal today against a decision by British regulatory authorities to give Sir James Goldsmith more time to pursue his hostile takeover bid for the tobacco-based conglomerate.
An appeal committee of the Panel on Takeover and Mergers said it backed the full panel’s decision to allow Goldsmith breathing room to tackle obstacles in the United States to the $21.7-billion offer by his Hoylake investment group.
The Anglo-French financier, with Australian entrepreneur Kerry Packer and British banker Jacob Rothschild, faces a protracted battle to obtain regulatory approval from nine American states, including California, to acquire BAT’s Farmers Group insurance unit in the United States.
Their bid for BAT, if successful, would be the largest takeover since last year’s $25-billion acquisition of food and tobacco giant RJR Nabisco Inc. by leveraged buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
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