According to a report in today’s The Australian business pages by John Durie, Pacific Equity Partners is aiming to win board support for a $2.63-a-share cash bid for Spotless after securing 19 percent yesterday. Apparently PEP representatives met with Spotless chairman Peter Smedley yesterday.
“ASIC is examining the circumstances surrounding the bid, given the highly unusual nature of the bid and the fact that the market has arguably been uninformed. The proposed deal was leaked to the press on Monday and published on Tuesday, but no formal approaches were made to the target until yesterday.”
“While locking up 19 percent of the company, PEP maintains it is not launching a takeover bid and instead wants the company to put an agreed bid to shareholders,” stated Durie.
He added, “Whether Mr Smedley agrees is another issue, because he has previously made it clear he thinks the company is worth closer to $3 a share.”
“Chief executive, Jo Farnik is part way through a restructuring of the company based on managed services giants such as Compass and ISS. Rather than disparate individual operations, the idea is to combine the services into one in long-term deals such as those now with BHP Nickel and Adelaide Hospital.”
The PEP offer at $2.63 a share was an 11 percent premium to yesterday’s closing price of $2.35 a share. The bid values the equity component of Spotless at $700 million. Spotless rejected an offer of $2.50 a share earlier this year from US giant Blackstone.
www.theaustralian.com.au; www.spotless.com