{"id":131991,"date":"2025-11-12T23:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/131991\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T23:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T23:23:13","slug":"early-comvita-takeover-vote-shows-florenz-bid-unlikely-to-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/131991\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Comvita takeover vote shows Florenz bid unlikely to pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBased on these numbers, the scheme resolution would not pass, as greater than 25% of all shares have been voted, or are directed, against the scheme resolution,\u201d Comvita said.<\/p>\n

The company said it was important to note that these votes and directions remained subject to change by shareholders up until the scheme meeting, set down for 2pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil the process is formally concluded, Comvita urges shareholders and the market to note that the final outcome remains subject to completion of the voting process and court approval,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Comvita\u2019s cornerstone shareholder has come out strongly in favour<\/a> of a bid from Florenz \u2013 a unit of Christchurch-based Masthead, the investment vehicle of the Stewart family. The Florenz offer values Comvita at $56 million.<\/p>\n

Comvita shares last traded at 59c.<\/p>\n

Co-founder and 3.36% shareholder Alan Bougen is leading a group to form a competing bid which, so far, has been light on detail.<\/p>\n

The cornerstone shareholder, Li Wang, said her family were long-term supporters of Comvita, having established the market in China for the company.<\/p>\n

The takeover tangle comes as the m\u0101nuka honey industry struggles with oversupply and aggressive discounting.<\/p>\n

Comvita\u2019s last result showed it sank deeper into the red<\/a> with a loss of $104.8m from $77.4m a year earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny delay to a resolution on Comvita\u2019s ownership structure will irreplaceably damage the brand that has been built up over decades and put several hundred jobs at risk in New Zealand and overseas,\u201d Wang said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support the bid by Florenz as it offers the highest value for all shareholders at the moment and they have a solid track record to improve Comvita for the good of New Zealand and the m\u0101nuka honey industry, which relies on thriving international business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would of course welcome any bona fide party that can come up with a higher offer,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould the current bid by Florenz fail, and no higher bid emerges, I believe the Comvita management and board will seek to conduct a highly dilutive capital raising and\/or take on high-interest subordinated debt, which may further worsen the operating cashflow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wang said the business falling into the hands of receivers was a \u201cdistinct possibility\u201d, particularly if operations in China did not rapidly improve.<\/p>\n

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n

Listen and subscribe to the Today in Business<\/a> podcast \u2013 the top headlines from the NZ Herald business team summarised and delivered by an artificial intelligence (AI) voice as an easily digestible recap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBased on these numbers, the scheme resolution would not pass, as greater than 25% of all shares have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5921,90775,1558,9218,1040,138,71777,2245,88376,90774,305,663,2374,111,139,69,51252,90773,90776,58758,418,26592,61,51183,122,5905,24688],"class_list":{"0":"post-131991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-electronic","9":"tag-80cashare","10":"tag-been","11":"tag-before","12":"tag-bid","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-comvita","15":"tag-early","16":"tag-florenz","17":"tag-florenzs","18":"tag-have","19":"tag-looks","20":"tag-meeting","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-pass","25":"tag-proxy","26":"tag-schemeofarrangement","27":"tag-scuppered","28":"tag-shows","29":"tag-takeover","30":"tag-to","31":"tag-tomorrows","32":"tag-unlikely","33":"tag-vote","34":"tag-voting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}