Foster's Brewing Group was the centre of attention on the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday, amid intense speculation its 37 per cent shareholder resources giant BHP was poised to sell its stake in the group.
Shares in Foster's jumped eight cents to A$2.64 under the belief BHP was keen to dispose of the stake, which would reap about $1.8 billion (about HK$10.72 billion), before its financial year ended in May.
Brokers in Sydney said the speculation was sparked off by the revelation BHP had told its institutional investors in Europe it hoped to raise $4 billion from the sale of non-core assets over the next couple of years, a move which would have to include the sale of Foster's.
Brokers added the surge in the Foster's share price over the past two months meant now was the ideal time to sell, because BHP would be able to book a capital profit on the deal for the first time.
BHP was forced to take a $542 million drop in profit last year after it wrote down the value of its Foster's stake to $2.33 and has written off more than $800 million since its initial investment.
One analyst said: 'The Foster's stake has been a weight around BHP's neck for a few years now and at this price BHP would be able to sell its stake at a discount to the market without any further writedowns on its balance sheet, which would be very attractive.
