SYDNEY: San Miguel Corp, the largest food and beverage maker in the Philippines, agreed to buy National Foods Ltd, Australia's biggest dairy company, for A$1.78bil, raising the prospect of a bidding war with Fonterra Cooperative Ltd.
San Miguel offered A$6 cash a share for Melbourne-based National Foods, topping a A$5.45 offer by New Zealand's Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter. National Foods shares climbed to A$6.25 on expectations that Fonterra will raise its bid. Fonterra would “respond in due course,'' the company said.
