Keira Wright, Bloomberg News 

(Bloomberg) -- Olam Agri Holdings Ltd. has yet again trumped Louis Dreyfus Co.’s bid for Namoi Cotton Ltd., as the two major agricultural traders vie for the Australian cotton producer. 

The Singaporean-based company will increase its bid for Namoi to A$0.70 a share, three cents higher than LDC’s most recent bid on Tuesday, it said in a statement on Wednesday. Its latest offer values the company at around A$144 million ($95 million). 

Olam Agri offered A$0.66 cents a share for Namoi late last week, contingent on getting backing from more than half the company’s shareholders. At the time, it said it would pay A$0.70 if it successfully secured at least 90% support. However, that was rebuffed when Rotterdam-based LDC, which currently holds around 17% of Olam’s shares, said a day later that it wouldn’t accept Olam Agri’s bid. 

Both companies already have a foothold in Australia’s cotton industry, which is the world’s sixth biggest. Olam Agri acquired Queensland Cotton in 2007, and owns a number of ginning facilities in New South Wales and Queensland. LDC bought Dunavant’s Australian cotton business in 2010, and owns three processing plants in the country.

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