The Vitalharvest Freehold Trust (ASX: VTH) share price is flat today despite an ongoing fight to take over the company.
The lacklustre performance of the Vitalharvest share price also comes despite the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) trading 0.99% higher for the day so far and after a Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) subsidiary upped its offer to take over the company.
At the time of writing, the agribusiness' share price is sitting at $1.095.
What's going on with the Vitalharvest share price?
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) is reporting Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and private equity firm Roc are battling it out to takeover Vitalharvest. MIRA approached Vitalharvest back in November with an offer of $1.00 per share for the trust. The Vitalharvest share price back then was 96.5 cents.
Since that time, the share price has shot up by around 13% to be 9% higher than MIRA's initial offer. Roc then entered the fray for the company, offering $1.08 per share. Macquarie has matched that price and offered a 2.5 cent distribution per unit for rental income for the six months to December.
Despite the added incentive of the dividend equivalent, shareholders do not seem to be convinced, with many apparently selling their shares at today's market price – 1.5 cents above the MIRA offer.
In a statement to the SMH, a MIRA spokesperson said:
MIRA's proposal delivers compelling value to Vitalharvest unitholders of $1.105 per unit, a 41% premium to the undisturbed trading price of VTH units. Our proposal is fully funded, ready to implement, recommended by the RE and Independent Expert and has the support of both the manager and the Trust's sole tenant.
What is Vitalharvest?
Vitalharvest is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on real agriculture property assets. It leases its property to Costa Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: CGC). Costa is a major fresh fruit and vegetable supplier with operations both domestically and overseas. The company gave its blessing to Vitalharvest to sell the trust.
Agriculture commodity prices are predicted to continue their upward swing, much like they did last year.
Vitalharvest share price snapshot
This time last year, the Vitalharvest share price had a going rate of 68 cents. At today's price, an investor would be seeing a 61% return on investment.
Vitalharvest has a market capitalisation of around $201.7 million.
