Mauser will pay Bt8.50 per share in a deal expected to close at the end of the month. The company's stock closed yesterday at Bt7.85 per share, 16.29 per cent higher than at close of trading last Friday.

Pack Delta, which makes plastic containers, reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) yesterday that its major shareholder, Prasert Trichakraphop, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mauser for the share sale.

Mauser was set up mainly to invest in Asian industrial-packaging companies. Its shareholders are Mauser Holding Netherlands BV and Time Securities Services Pvt Ltd, which own 51 per cent and 49 per cent of Mauser, respectively.

Pack Delta managing director Thongchai Ampiegulwatana said in the report that his company had no connection with Mauser other than that Pack Delta manufactures 200-litre L-ring plastic drums under a licence granted by Mauser Maschinentechnik GmbH, one of the companies in the Mauser Group.

"Mauser's objective for this share acquisition is to expand its business into Thailand, and it currently has no policy to change the company's business or listing status," Thongchai said in the statement.

The MoU stipulates that a Pack Delta shareholder will collect no less than 27.7 million shares (at least 69.25 percent) from other shareholders of the company by September 15.

While Mauser will deposit  money for the share purchase, Pack Delta will transfer some of its shares as a guaranty of the purchase by July 30. Mauser will conduct due diligence on Pack Delta's assets and liabilities by July 29.

Pack Delta will also ask permission from the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand for the company, as a majority foreign-owned entity, to be a registered owner of land that is currently registered in the company's name.

The MoU also stipulates that both parties have agreed to enter into a share sale and purchase agreement no later than July 30. If either company fails to sign the agreement by that date, then the other has the right immediately to seize the deposit.

After the share purchase is completed, Mauser must by law later make a mandatory tender offer to acquire Pack Delta's remaining outstanding shares.

Pack Delta informed the SET yesterday of the share sale, and the SET allowed the stock to resume trading. The company had asked the bourse for a temporary trading halt from last week.

Major shareholders include Thongchai, with a 19.5-per-cent stake; Sri Thep Thai Latex Co Ltd, with 13.13 per cent; Ramoch Trichakraphop, with 9.93 per cent; Srisurat Latex Co Ltd, with 9.38 per cent; and Prasert 9.38 per cent.