LOUIS Dreyfus Company has today announced it will not be accepting Olam Agri’s latest offers for its 17-percent stake in Namoi Cotton, Australia’s biggest ginner.

The news wraps up a week in which LDC upped its offer for outstanding shares in the company to 60c from an original 51c, and Olam Agri followed suit by lifting its offer to 66c for all shares, up 7c from its original figure.

With 24.2pc of Namoi shares, Sydney-based company Samuel Terry Asset Management is Namoi Cotton’s largest stakeholder, and yesterday advised it supported Olam’s intention to pay 66c for a minimum 50.1pc of shares, rising to 70c if a minimum 90pc was obtained.

“STAM confirms that it considers the (Olam) offer to be superior to the proposed takeover offer announced by Louis Dreyfus Company Melbourne Holdings Pty Ltd on 29 April 2024,” STAM said in a statement released yesterday.

“STAM encourages the Namoi Board to engage with Olam in relation to Olam’s offer.”

Primarily through Akira Holding Foundation, LDC holds the second-largest tranche of Namoi shares, and is also involved in two  joint ventures with Namoi Cotton.

These are Namoi Cotton Alliance, which packs containers and handles lint and cottonseed as well as grain from up-country sites through to export, and Namoi Cotton Marketing Alliance, which trades and markets lint.

“LDC Group holds a 16.99 percent interest in Namoi and advises it will not accept Olam’s offer with respect to any of its Namoi shares,” LDC said in a statement released today.

Olam is the parent of Queensland Cotton, which owns and operates six gins in Qld and three in New South Wales, while Namoi owns 10 in NSW and the twin-gin site at Macintyre at Goondiwindi, its only Qld location.

LDC owns one NSW gin and two in Qld, and is also a JV partner in northern Australia’s only gin at Katherine in the Northern Territory, which is expected to operate commercially for the first time this year.

Namoi is involved in a JV at Kununurra which is expected to start ginning cotton grown in Western Australia’s Kimberley region from next year.

Australia has several independent ginners, but Namoi, Qld Cotton and LDC process the vast majority of the nation’s cotton crop.