Australia: Lion Nathan takeover fight 'cost Cooper's $8m'

The chairman of Cooper's brewery has described fighting a takeover bid from Lion Nathan as "seeing off the barbarians at the gate", ABC News Online released November 30. Glenn Cooper made the comments Thursday at the South Australian company's AGM.

In his chairman's address Mr Cooper said that at this time last year there was a real threat that it would be the end of the line for the family company. He said fighting Lion Nathan's takeover bid wiped $8 million off the bottom line, with the company's net profit down to $12.7 million.

But he said the performance under extreme difficulty was quite outstanding. Mr Cooper also took a swipe at Lion Nathan over local beer sales, saying massive discounting had flattened Cooper's sales.

Lion Nathan's bid for Cooper's was effectively thwarted last December when most shareholders voted to remove the beverage giant's share-owning rights.