The price was raised by the leading wine maker Delegat's Wine Estate in an attempt to takeover Oyster Bay, the Marlborough grape grower. The price was raised from $1.80 to $2.08.
The two largest shareholders behind Delegat's, David Rankin the real estate agent of Christchurch who owns 3 percent shares and the Cushing family who owns 4.19 percent had rejected the previous offer. They said it was too low to sell the shares.
The independent directors of the Oyster Bay haven't made any moves. The independent appraisal of the offer has not been made yet and they haven't made any proposal on the bid.
They have yet to issue any company statement on the bid. In 1999, Delegat's had set up the company through a public offer of stakes. Delegat's owns 55 percent of shares in Oyster Bay. 25% percent of Delegat's grape requirement is supplied by Oyster Bay.
In Marlborough, Gravitas, Delegat's had bought another vineyards which had bankrupted and was in the hands of the receivers. At that time, for 23-hectare vineyard, they had to pay more than $2m.
