FNN / Thai Bev

FNN / Thai Bev: Newswires say Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi offered to buy a stake of ~10% in FNN from at least two funds as he competes for control of the company. The deal was not completed. Charoen, who already owns ~ 35% of F&N, enlisted Citi to help boost its stake. Citi contacted institutional investors starting Dec 14, offering to buy 144m F&N shares at $9.60 apiece. That’s 8% over Charoen’s earlier $8.88 bid for the co. The attempt would have raised Charoen’s stake in F&N to ~45%. Thai Bev and Citi have declined to comment on the attempted acquisition. Note 198,000 FNN shares crossed at $9.60/sh at 9.56am, accounting for 13.6% of then volume of 1.5m shares. FNN shares are now +0.4% at $9.61, with 2.2m shares traded.