Billionaire packaging businessman Raphael Geminder has finally declared his long-running takeover offer for packaging company Pact Group Holdings Ltd. (ASX:PGH) as the ?best and final? bid, to close on June 7, but that will leave him stranded on 87.42% of the company and just short of compulsory ­acquisition. Mr. Geminder had been powering towards the finishing line of gaining 90% of the company, intending to then delist it from the ASX and privatise it, but just before he could declare victory two businessmen ?

who are also involved in a separate legal dispute with the billionaire ? scooped up a 6% stake and seem to have scuttled the entire takeover. Issuing his 13th supplementary offer after launching the $289 million takeover bid in September, Mr. Geminder?s Bennamon Industries on May 3, 2024 declared the offer final and said it would close on June 7. However, Mr. Geminder remains stuck at 87.42%, with rebel shareholders holding 6% and the remaining investors unwilling to sell at the takeover price of 84c per share.

The intervention of business partners David Harris and Mark Gandur, who now control 6% of Pact, has been a thorn in the side of Mr. Geminder. Mr. Geminder?s 13th supplementary bidder?s statement said that if Bennamon Industries hadn?t secured 90% acceptance of the takeover offer by June 7, it would seek a shareholder vote 12 months after the bid ends to take the company private. This could leave the dwindling number of shareholders in Pact holding stock in an unlisted public company.

If a vote was held 12 months after the takeover ends ? around June 2025 ? Mr. Geminder would be able to vote his stake in favour of a delisting.

Shares in Pact last traded at 84.5c.