澳大利亚最大零售企业将诞生

　　Coles Group Ltd. accepted a 21.9 billion Australian dollar (US$18.6 billion) takeover bid from local conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd.， paving the way to create Australia's largest retailer.

　　Yesterday's deal represents the country's biggest corporate takeover and ends months of uncertainty about the future of Melbourne-based Coles. The saga has taken many twists and turns since a U.S. buyout consortium first approached the supermarket company last August.

　　Wesfarmers， a Perth-based mining， insurance and industrial giant that also owns Bunnings， the country's biggest home-improvement retailer， launched a solo bid for Coles after its private-equity partner， Europe's Permira， pulled out at the last minute， citing the state of the U.S. financing market. Permira's exit forced Wesfarmers to change the structure of its bid and increase the proportion of shares to finance the deal.

　　

澳大利亚超市运营商高斯集团接受了该国企业西农集团对其219亿澳元(约合186亿美元)的收购报价，此举为澳大利亚最大零售企业的诞生铺平了道路。

　　昨天达成的这一交易是澳大利亚历史上规模最大的企业并购案，它驱散了数月来有关高斯未来前途的疑云。自从去年8月美国一个收购财团洽购高斯以来，该公司的收购战经历了许多波折。

　　西农集团是总部位于澳大利亚珀斯的一家矿业、保险和工业巨头，该国最大的家庭

装修产品零售商Bunnings也是它旗下的企业。由于与其联合竞购高斯的欧洲私人资本运营企业Permira在最后一刻以担忧美国金融市场状况为由撤出，西农决定单独竞购高斯。Permira的退出迫使西农修改了竞标架构，提高了交易中换股收购的比例。

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