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Olam Agri's offer values Namoi at A$155.2 mln

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LDC's offer values Namoi at A$138 mln

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Olam, LDC also up stake in Namoi; LDC top investor

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Namoi switched backing to Olam's offer

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Namoi trading below Olam's per/shr bid, above LDC's

(Rewrites throughout with further updates on details and

context)

By Aaditya GovindRao and Rajasik Mukherjee

Sept 13 (Reuters) - Singapore's Olam Agri

raised its stake in Australia's Namoi Cotton, it said

on Friday, hours after increasing its buyout offer for the

cotton ginning firm to top Dutch commodities trader Louis

Dreyfus Co's (LDC) bid.

However, LDC also raised its stake in Namoi, to above 21%,

on Friday, toppling Samuel Terry Asset Management to become the

firm's top investor, amid its eight-month-long bidding war with

Olam Agri for the world's sixth-largest cotton producer.

Olam Agri now owns 16.34% of Namoi after buying shares from

Samuel Terry Asset Management and another investor at A$0.75

each, the same as its offer for the other shares it doesn't own.

That values Namoi at A$155.2 million ($104.3 million) and is

higher than LDC's offer of A$0.67 per share, which values Namoi

at A$138 million.

Namoi shares jumped 4.4% to close at A$0.705, above LDC's

per-share offer but below Olam Agri's, indicating shareholders

are likely concerned about the Singaporean company's bid going

through.

Australia's competition regulator (ACCC) is yet to clear

Olam Agri's offer even though it has agreed to divest certain

local operations, while they cleared LDC's bid last month after

the trader agreed to certain divestitures.

"The bump (in Olam Agri's offer) doesn't change the ACCC

application process," said David Blennerhassett, content

strategist at Ballingal Investment Advisors.

"It's more a tactic of stopping investors from tendering

into LDC's offer and/or LDC buying on-market at or around its

offer price."

Still, Namoi said it now backed Olam Agri's bid, switching

from its earlier recommendation of LDC's offer and joining

Samuel Terry Asset Management in supporting the Singaporean

company's offer.

Ashish Govil, the head of Olam Agri's Australian operations,

said the company was confident of winning regulatory approval.

Louis Dreyfus did not immediately respond to a Reuters

request for comment.

($1 = 1.4879 Australian dollars)