SINGAPORE, Nov 16: The battle for Singapore conglomerate Fraser & Neave has heated up after a firm run by one of Indonesia’s richest men offered more than $10 billion for the firm, setting up a fight with a Thai billionaire.

A consortium led by property developer Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE), chaired by Indonesia’s Stephen Riady, said late on Thursday it was launching a Sg$13.1bn ($10.7bn) offer for F&N, at $9.08 a share. The bid trumps the Sg$8.7bn, or Sg$8.88 a share, offer in September from TCC Assets, a Thai group controlled by beverage billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, for the F&N shares his group does not already own.

TCC has until November 22 to make a counter-offer. OUE’s offer came in the day that Dutch beer giant Heineken said it had completed its Sg$5.6bn acquisition of F&N’s 40 per cent stake in Asia Pacific Breweries as part of its takeover of the Tiger Beer brand.

“F&N is a Pan-Asian consumer group with strong standing in property, (food and beverage), publishing and printing industries,” Riady, son of Indonesian tycoon Mochtar Riady, said in a press statement announcing the bid. He said combining the property portfolios of the two firms would “further strengthen OUE as a leading property player in Singapore and expand our footprint in Singapore and regionally”.

OUE said that it had the backing of Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings, which holds about 14.8pc of F&N.—AFP