19 Sep 2012

Rural Equities warns of 'lowball' offer

7:34 am on 19 September 2012

Rural investment and property management company Rural Equities is warning investors to beware of the latest low priced offer for its shares.

The company says Australia-based Stock and Share Trading is offering $2.30 a share, compared with the $3.22 to $3.25 for which the shares have been trading on the unlisted market.

It is the third time in the past year that that Stock and Share Trading has made written offers to REL shareholders - all of them at substantial discounts to the prevailing market price.

Rural Equities is urging investors to seek advice before deciding what to do.

The company's wholly-owned subsidiary the New Zealand Rural Property Trust owns 12 farms in the North Island and 17 in the South Island.

There is a balance of dairy, sheep and beef cattle, deer and cropping farms, which total 13,000 hectares.

Twenty farms are leased to individual farmers, with the other nine being directly managed.