Fraser & Neave (F&N) board members, including chairman Lee Hsien Yang, have decided to resign from the company, following the almost-closure of the offer made by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi to buy remaining shares in F&N.

Based on the recommendation by its financial advisor JP Morgan Chase, F&N’s nine board members have accepted the revised offer of $11.2bn or S$9.55 ($7.74) per share from Sirivadhanabhakdi, who already holds 44.05% stake in F&N.

The battle to purchase the assets of F&N started in July 2011, when Sirivadhanabhakdi started purchasing shares in F&N, which made Dutch brewer Heineken NV to buy out its joint venture with F&N for $4.6bn.

In September 2011, Charoen, through TCC Assets, made his first bid to buy a stake in F&N for $7.2bn or S$8.88 per share, which was turned down by F&N.

Later, Singapore-listed property company Overseas Union Enterprise offered a price of S$9.08 ($7.39) per share or $10.6bn for stake in F&N, which was backed by Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings, who owns 14.8% stake in F&N.

However, F&N refused the offer from Overseas, allowing Sirivadhanabhakdi to put up the revised offer.

Both TCC Assets and Overseas further extended their offers for months, before Singapore’s Securities Industry Council stepped in and directed them to come up with revised offers or face an auction.

F&N independent directors said the revised offer price from TCC Assets falls within the investment bank’s valuation of S$8.58 to S$11.68 a share and a higher competing offer will not be entertained.

The offer from TCC Assets is scheduled to close on 4 February 2013, following which Sirivadhanabhakdi will restructure the board.