All-out war for Aussie winemaker

THE ding-dong takeover battle for control of Australia's Peter Lehmann Wines burst into all-out war today as rival bidders Allied Domecq and Hess traded £61m blows.

Allied kicked off the action by dropping conditions attached to its £61m offer, which had previously been rejected by the Lehmann board.

That made it the frontrunner, beating the no-strings-attached £58.8m offer from Switzerland's Hess, which had won board approval.

But within hours Hess was back in the ring, matching Allied's tilt.

The move makes privately-owned Hess the favourite again, as it has the support of founder Peter Lehmann, who has already sold a 5.4% stake to the Swiss distributor but still owns 10.5%.

Allied, the world's second-biggest wines and spirits company, has around 15% of PLW and is its top shareholder after building a stake in the wine producer over the past 11 months.

But it has also indicated there is little chance of increasing its offer price.

The Hess move provides ammunition to 73-year-old Peter Lehmann, said to be vigorously opposed to Allied and attempting to convince his less-intransigent fellow directors to back Hess.