SINGAPORE (July 1): The offer for Indofood Agri Resources lapsed this past week. In my view, the directors who recommended the deal should now resign.
Before I go any further, let me just make it clear that I am not accusing these directors of breaking any rules or being derelict in their duties. I am also not holding myself out to be some kind of expert on corporate governance matters. It seems clear from events that have unfolded, however, that the directors who recommended the offer do not recognise the underlying value that minority investors like me see in IndoAgri’s shares. Indeed, the recommending directors evidently do not recognise the value that IndoAgri’s controlling shareholder sees either.
With the offer out of the way, the key priority for IndoAgri’s board must now surely be to unlock the value that its controlling shareholder Indofood Sukses Makmur as well as a significant portion of its minority shareholders feel exists within the company. This is a task best spearheaded by a board unencumbered by members who have only recently recommended that minority investors sell their shares to the majority shareholder for 28 cents (or 27.75 cents on an ex-dividend basis) each.
