Danisco Investor Banking on DuPont Extending Offer

Danske Capital, a Copenhagen-based fund which owns 1.7 percent of Danisco A/S shares, is counting on DuPont Co. to extend its $5.8 billion takeover offer and will decide whether to accept it at the last possible moment.

“We expect that DuPont will extend the offer period because the company hasn’t achieved the needed Chinese approval and the deadline is approaching,” Jesper Poll, a portfolio manager at Danske Capital, said today in a telephone interview.

Poll said Danske Capital is “lukewarm” to the offer, which is scheduled to expire on Feb. 22 and is contingent on the acceptance of investors holding more than 90 percent of shares. Elliott Associates LP, a hedge fund and Danisco shareholder, has voiced its opposition to the takeover agreement, saying it undervalues the company by at least $320 million.

“It’s not a very impressive bid, but it’s not completely unacceptable either,” Poll said.

The offer of 665 kroner ($121) a share for Danisco is “fair, full and firm,” Michael Hanretta, a DuPont spokesman, said today in a telephone interview, repeating earlier comments made by the Wilmington, Delaware-based company. He declined to comment on whether the offer deadline will be extended.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Noel at anoel@bloomberg.net.