Aussie financial services firm Perpetual has turned down a A$1.68 billion (£940m, $1.1bn, €1.1bn) takeover offer from a consortium of overseas and local private equity and funds management firms.
The company said on the Australian Stock Exchange that the A$30-per-share proposal from Barings Private Equity Asia and fund manager Regal Partners “materially undervalued” the firm.
It added: “This offer is uncertain and conditional and the Perpetual Board believes that it is not in the best interests of its shareholders to engage on this offer and has therefore rejected the offer.”
The firm said that it is “committed to progressing its acquisition” of Pendal Group, which was announced to shareholders on 25 August 2022.
Brendan O’Connor, Regal Partners chief executive and managing director, said: “We are delighted to form a consortium with the BPEA EQT Fund to enable the approach to Perpetual and provide a compelling opportunity for our shareholders to create a leading ASX-listed provider of active investment strategies globally.
“As stated in our recent capital raise presentation, inorganic growth opportunities represent one pillar of our ongoing growth strategy as we seek to further diversify our revenue, product and client base and leverage our existing operating platform.
“We believe the proposal we have submitted is compelling for Perpetual shareholders and, importantly, is more attractive than maintaining the status quo and proceeding with the proposed acquisition of Pendal.”
