| KKR Drops Out of Sainsbury Bidding Group, People Familiar Say
April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. dropped out of the bidding group for J Sainsbury Plc because of its involvement in a takeover offer for U.K. retailer Alliance Boots Plc, two people with knowledge of the deal said. KKR's withdrawal won't jeopardize the planned bid for the U.K. supermarket chain, according to the people, who declined to be identified as details aren't public. CVC Capital Partners Ltd., Blackstone Group LP and Texas Pacific Group make up the rest of the group, which must decide on a bid by April 13. ``I don't think there will be a problem for them to fill KKR's slot,'' said Chris Gower, an analyst at Man Securities in London. ``There are plenty of other parties interested in getting involved in this, if the numbers work.'' New York-based KKR and Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina raised their bid for Alliance Boots to 10.1 billion pounds ($19.8 billion) last month, and the owner of the U.K.'s largest drugstore chain indicated it may discuss a transaction.
Joburg art auction nets R36m
An auction of decorative and fine arts raised a record-breaking R36-million in Johannesburg this week, the auctioneers said on Thursday. Stephan Weltz & Co's two-day sale of decorative and fine arts totalled R36343458 a record total for a sale held in Johannesburg," the company said in a statement. Seven paintings sold for more than R1-million each, including four works by Pierneef. Pierneef's Landscape with Thorn Tree sold for R2.86-million; Wild Pear for R1.76-million; Landscape with Trees and Clouds for R1.1-million and Forest Landscape for R1.045-million. Other artists whose work recorded high prices were Irma Stern and Maggie Laubser. "It is encouraging to note that the Stern market is still holding strong," the statement read.
Commission delay may spark pre-emptive bidding
The Commerce Commission is expected to further defer making a decision on whether either Foodstuffs or Woolworths could take over the Warehouse. That move might lead one of the supermarket giants to take pre-emptive bidding action. Warehouse shares rose sharply yesterday, up 20c to 681, with almost 700,000 shares crossed. Brisk volumes of shares have changed hands recently. A commission decision is due on Friday, but market sources indicated yesterday that all the signs were the commission would seek more time, possibly another month. The commission has been studying the issue since before Christmas. It is believed within the market that a further delay in a decision could see one of the supermarket giants break cover and launch a bid anyway possibly at a price as high as 775c a share.
Rare farm machinery auctioned near Armidale
Hundreds of people from as far away as north Queensland and Melbourne have attended an auction of vintage and antique farm machinery south of Armidale on the weekend. The auction, on Bill Morton's property at Dangarsleigh, included rare early 20th century farming equipment. The rarest items were two Twin City tractors, which were made in the 1920s by an American company. Although they were not in working order, they still fetched prices of up to $10,000. One successful bidder, John Barwick, says it was money well spent. "It's quite unique - I haven't seen anything like it - to have machinery in as good order as this," he said. Auctioneer Victor Moore says many people were surprised by the value of the items. "Extremely unusual and a lot of the items we're seeing here are very, very rare," he said.
Five bids for five franchises in Trans Tasman competition
The franchise make up for next year's trans Tasman netball competition looks to be a fait accompli, with Netball New Zealand receiving five expressions of interests for the five New Zealand places in the competition. The five likely franchises are based along similar lines to rugby's Super 14 competition. Netball North, Auckland-Waitakere and Counties Manukau have lodged a submission while Waikato and Bay of Plenty are set to make up another franchise. Wellington, Tasman, Eastern Netball and Western netball another, Canterbury the fourth and Southland and Otago the fifth franchise. Netball New Zealand chairman Don MacKinnon says he's heartened by the co-operation between the provinces to come up with the five bids and over the next two weeks Netball New Zealand will meet with the regions involved.
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