Chile’s CFR drops $1.2 bln bid for SAfrica’s Adcock

Chile's CFR Pharmaceuticals dropped its $1.2 billion bid for South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram on Friday, thwarted by Adcock's top shareholder Bidvest in its attempt to get into fast-growing African markets. The widely expected defeat puts attention back on Bidvest and its chief executive Brian Joffe, who wants to add Adcock's portfolio of painkillers to an investment conglomerate that spans shipping to mop sales. But its higher cash and shares offer required approval from shareholders with 75 percent of Adcock and was effectively blocked when Bidvest raised its stake to over 34.5 percent at the end of last month – following a one-day buying spree that saw a record 39 million Adcock shares changing hands. Shares in Adcock, which tumbled at the end of January after the announcement that Bidvest had acquired enough shares to block CFR, were little changed at 59.65 rand at 1340 GMT, well below Bidvest's cash offer of 70 rand.