WCB is the subject of a takeover offer from Murray Goulburn Co-operative and trading in its shares surged yesterday with the volume of close to 200,000 shares traded more than that of the preceeeding five trading days.

Prices that had been moving up by a few cents a day since the MG bid was made public jumped suddenly, closing onyesterday at $4.04, a increase of almost 30c in the day.

Murray Gouburn's initial bid before Christmas was widely believed to be in the vicinity of $4 and was dismissed by the WCB board as being incomplete, conditional and insufficient.

The second bid announced in a single sentence within WCB's half year financial results this week lit the fuse for this latest train of events.

At this stage MG has yet to do due diligence on the WCB books and given the difficulties WCB faced over the last year that will be important in formulating a more realistic, final bid.

Existing WCB supplier shareholders have been talking from $5 up but that may be based more on hope than any real sense of the value of the WCB business.