Freehill acts for AWB on growing number of offers

Freehills, Clayton Utz and Gilbert + Tobin are involved in a tug of war between Australian agribusiness AWB, Canadian agribusiness and fertilizer giant Agrium and GrainCorp.

Agrium, being represented by Clayton Utz, launched a A$1.1 billion offer for AWB over the weekend. However, AWB had already received a A$860m offer from Graincorp, which is being represented by Gilbert + Tobin Sydney, led by M&A partner John Williamson-Noble. Meanwhile Freehills, through M&A partner Rodd Levy and senior associate Stefanie Allen, is advising AWB on both the Graincorp and Agrium proposals. The firm previously advised AWB on a multi-million dollar capital raising last September.

The offer for Australia's largest wheat exporter has underscored the fierce competition for Australia's wheat industry, which is counting on a bumper crop this year as suppliers in Europe and Russia struggle with drought and poor production.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), AWB said its merger implementation deed with GrainCorp remained in place, with the company's directors continuing to recommend shareholders vote in favour of the deal. However, since the Agrium bid, there has also been speculation that Canadian grain handler Viterra could also enter the fray with a rival bid.

Graincorp bought United Malt Holdings last year and is seeking to boost its competitiveness through the AWB buyout.

Barclays Capital is acting as financial advisor to Agrium.

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