SHARES in poultry group Sovereign Food Investments perched close to a 12-month high on Thursday, after larger rival Country Bird Holdings tabled a buy-out offer at 900c/share.At the close of trade Sovereign’s shares were up 16.55% to 838c — close to the 880c annual high recorded in October last year.Country Bird already owns about 10% of Sovereign, and has pitched its premium priced buy-out offer at a difficult juncture for domestic poultry. Chicken producers face increased input costs after a prolonged drought, new brining regulations and an influx of imported chicken.Sovereign said its directors would "in due course" constitute an independent board and independent experts to assess whether Country Bird’s offer was fair and reasonable.The offer by Country Bird values Sovereign at about R685m — representing a premium of 25.4% and 21.9%, respectively to the pre-offer share price and the 30-day average price.The offer also represents a premium of between 21.3% and 12.8% to the indepen...
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