Trading in Sovereign Foods suggests shareholders are not expecting a bidding war to break out between CapitalWorks and Country Bird Holdings (CBH), which owns 34% of Sovereign. The share price has remained steady at R11.60 since private equity company CapitalWorks surprised the market with a R12-per-share offer just more than a week ago. CapitalWorks said shareholders with 50.8% of the shares had irrevocably undertaken to vote in favour of its proposed scheme of arrangement and, if the scheme was not implemented, to accept the general offer. It did not reveal who the shareholders were, but Prudential Investment Managers’ head of equity, Chris Wood, confirmed it was part of the 50.8%. "All things considered, Prudential has undertaken to support the CapitalWorks offer," Wood told the media. Prudential is one of the largest minority shareholders with 7.35%. Sovereign will hold its annual general meeting at its Uitenhage head office on Tuesday and CBH executives and members of its legal...

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