July 1 (Reuters) – Australia’s Perpetual said on Wednesday it had rejected a non-binding takeover proposal from Swedish private equity firm EQT AB that values the financial services provider at A$2.45 billion ($1.69 billion).
As part of the proposal, EQT offered to buy all the shares for A$21.64 apiece in cash, a near 40% premium to Perpetual’s closing price on Tuesday.
The Sydney-headquartered firm’s shares jumped as much as about 17% to A$18.13 on Wednesday before being placed on a trading halt ahead of the announcement.
“The indicative proposal was highly conditional and did not adequately represent fair value for Perpetual shareholders in the context of a change of control transaction,” the company said in a filing to the exchange after market hours.
EQT did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Earlier this year, Perpetual unveiled plans to divest its wealth management arm to U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for an upfront cash payment of A$500 million.
This was part of an earlier A$2.18 billion deal with private equity group KKR in 2024, which later fell through and the Australian firm decided to pursue a separate sale of the business.
Founded in 1886, the investment manager has been the target of various takeovers over the years.
In 2022, it rejected a A$1.7 billion takeover bid from a consortium including portfolio manager Regal Partners, and the next year it turned down a A$3.1 billion offer from its largest shareholder, Washington H Soul Pattinson.
($1 = 1.4516 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Harikrishnan Nair and Sonia Cheema)
