* Olam Agri raises offer to A$0.70 per share
* Olam Agri offer 3 cents above rival LDC bid
* Namoi shares hit highest in nearly 25 years
May 8 (Reuters) - Singapore's Olam Agri
Shares of the Australian cotton ginning company rose as much as 5% to A$0.77, their highest since September 1999, extending their gains to a third session.
The rally on Wednesday came after Olam Agri sweetened its offer price to A$0.70 per share from A$0.66 apiece, above LDC's latest bid of A$0.67 per share.
Olam Agri said its revised offer was applicable regardless of it obtaining at least 90% stake in Namoi, a condition set in the offer made last week.
Both the revised offers are subject to the bidders acquiring a 50.1% stake in Namoi.
Dutch global commodity merchant LDC already owns around 17% of Namoi and is vying for full control of Australia's largest cotton producer. Olam already owns its rival Queensland Cotton.
LDC and Olam have been bidding back and forth to gain control of Namoi since January this year.
Acquiring ownership of Namoi would strengthen the buyer's foothold in Australia, providing it access to Namoi's network of ginning services and storage locations in New South Wales and Queensland.
Both LDC and Namoi did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on Olam's sweetened offer.
($1 = 1.5175 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Subhranshu Sahu)
