Lactalis subsidiary tops rival bid for Egypt's Arab Dairy

A subsidiary of Europe's biggest dairy group Lactalis has raised its offer for Egypt's Arab Dairy to 60.5 Egyptian pounds ($8.43) per share, topping a rival bid from Pioneers Holding as a takeover battle heats up.

The revised bid values Arab Dairy at 363 million Egyptian pounds ($50.5 million) against $49.68 million for the latest Pioneer offer.

Egypt's market regulator said in a statement it had accepted the new bid from the Lactalis subsidiary, called Al-Nour for Dairy Industries, and had extended the deadline for new bids to Feb. 1 from Jan. 22.

Pioneers, a financial firm that already owns 25 percent of Arab Dairy, increased its offer for the company to 59.20 pounds per share last week, topping the previous offer of 58 pounds from Lactalis.

Pioneers originally bid 56 pounds a share for the Egyptian cheesemaker in August but has been forced to increase its offer price after a slew of rivals entered the fray.