Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp <AC.PS> said it would not improve its takeover offer for Australia's Infigen Energy <IFN.AX> further after a month-long bidding war for the wind and solar firm.
The announcement comes a day after rival Spanish power generation company Iberdrola <IBE.MC> said its offer for Infigen Energy, due to close on July 30, was now unconditional. Infigen has asked its shareholders to reject the Ayala bid.
Infigen shares closed at A$0.90 on Friday, marginally above Iberdrola's offer as investors hoped for a higher bid to emerge from UAC Energy Holdings, a joint venture of Ayala's AC Energy <ACEPH.PS> and Hong Kong-based UPC Renewables Group.
Iberdrola's offer was backed by Infigen in June after it improved its offer by 3 cents to A$0.89 a share, valuing the company at A$856 million ($598 million). The bid was approved by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.
UAC Energy said it made no final decision regarding its stake in Infigen when its offer closes.
($1 = 1.4310 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by A K Pranav in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
