ICI Aust to buy back ICI shares

06 September 1997 00:00  [Source: ACN]

ICI Australia will buy back shares directly from ICI to help with the sell down of the UK major's 62.4% stake.

Australian markets were taken by surprise by the announcement of the sell off (ACN 12 May, p4) which was followed by the decision by ICI Australia and Auseon to merge their PVC operations (ACN 2 June, p4).

Now the directors of ICI Australia are to recommend to shareholders that ICI Australia undertakes a selective buyback of shares from ICI up to Aus$360m (US$276.9m) at a price per share equal to the institutional offer price achieved under the global offering. This price will be less a discount of 1.5%, subject to a maximum price per share of Aus$11.96.

The move means ICI Australia will buy back a minimum of 30.1m shares from ICI giving it a stake of more than 10%. The remaining 37.8% of shares in the company are held by the Australian public.

An agreement has also been drawn up between ICI and ICI Australia which will cover technology and commercial matters. It includes the freedom for ICI Australia to exploit opportunities in global markets for paint products such as Dulux and an agreement for auto-refinish and can-coating products.

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