by TREVOR YEARWOOD

THE BATTLE to take over Barbados Farms Limited (BFL), one

of the largest land-owning companies in the island, is heating up with the entry of Sagicor Financial Corporation.

It has just announced a $5 per share bid, topping what two other companies had put on the table.

Sagicor is in competition with Agricultural Investments Limited (AIL) – a group led by businessman Sir Charles Williams and his brother Ralph "Bizzy" Williams – and CLSS Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of CLICO Holdings Limited.

Sagicor says it is making an offer of shares and cash for "100 per cent of the shareholding" in BFL.

The BFL board of directors, the Securities Commission and the Barbados Stock Exchange have already been informed of the offer.

BFL shareholders will receive a formal offer and take-over bid circular giving details of the terms and conditions soon, "after the necessary approvals are received from the Securities Commission", the company noted in a statement.

All-cash offer

BFL has an all-cash offer from AIL of $4 per share for all the outstanding 20.6 million shares.

And, CLSS recently raised its offer from $3.15 to $4.25 per share.

Meanwhile, Sagicor described its offer as "superior" to that made by CLSS Holdings Limited.

The BFL board of directors was clearly not impressed with the early bidding for the company.

Back in September it advised shareholders to reject the hostile take-over bid by local conglomerate AIL, which had made an offer of $2.75 per share.

Basing their advice on an assessment of the agricultural company's real estate holdings by Terra Caribbean, the directors told shareholders AIL's offer undervalued their shares as Barbados Farms' "intrinsic value" was "substantially higher" than the offer being made by AIL.

They said AIL's offer did not fully compensate shareholders for the potential cash flows that could be achieved from Barbados Farms' real estate assets.

Since then AIL and CLSS Holdings have increased their offers. )