Shareholders sold 57,637 shares into the buyback at $260 each before it closed last week, comprising 4.26 per cent of the unlisted public company’s outstanding stock.

The company had offered to buy up to 15 per cent of its stock, which is not traded on the market, to offer shareholders an opportunity to realise their investment without accepting Lion’s $420 million offer.

Coopers executive chairman Glenn Cooper said "just over 20" of the company’s 118 shareholders had sold shares into the buyback, with only a handful disposing of their entire stake. "It indicates that shareholders are happy with the way the company is being managed and is a gratifying response."

Those that did sell their entire holdings were all shareholders who had previously declared their intention of selling to Lion.

Coopers has pledged to conduct annual buybacks of between 2.5 and 5 per cent of issued shares in coming years, with buyback prices rising in line with earnings.

Shareholders with over 93 per cent of Coopers stock voted in December to remove Lion Nathan’s right to buy shares in their company, dealing a possibly fatal blow to Lion’s takeover bid.

But Lion last week extended its $310-a-share offer until March 20 while it continues legal challenges against its quarry.

Lion is considering a High Court appeal against the Federal Court decision that allowed Coopers shareholders to vote to remove its rights to buy their shares, and is bankrolling a number of other challenges by dissident Coopers shareholders.

Blair Speedy