July 15 (Reuters) – Australia’s Perpetual said on Wednesday it received a sweetened A$2.5 billion ($1.75 billion) takeover proposal from Sweden’s EQT AB, less than two weeks after rejecting the private equity firm’s earlier offer, deeming it inadequate.
Under the revised offer, EQT would buy all of Perpetual’s shares for A$22.07 per share, a near-22% premium to the financial services provider’s close on July 1, before it disclosed the initial approach to the market.
The latest bid is 2% higher than EQT’s earlier A$2.45 billion proposal, which Perpetual rejected. Its shares have gained more than 17% since July 1 and are up just over 1% this year.
The board said it was assessing the revised offer but cautioned there was no certainty it would result in a binding transaction.
Perpetual also disclosed that EQT’s revised proposal included a confidentiality clause stipulating that the offer would be automatically withdrawn if made public.
The company said it nonetheless “considers it appropriate to inform Perpetual shareholders of its receipt.”
The asset manager further said the revised proposal hinges on numerous conditions, including the completion of the sale of Perpetual’s Wealth Management business to Bain Capital.
The Sydney-headquartered firm had earlier in March agreed to sell the business to private equity firm Bain Capital for an upfront cash payment of A$500 million.
Founded in 1886, Perpetual was established as a trustee company by a group of businessmen, including Edmund Barton, who later became Australia’s first Prime Minister.
The improved bid is the latest twist in an increasingly public tug-of-war over the storied Australian firm, which has now rebuffed takeover interest from at least three different suitors since 2022, including its own largest shareholder.
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 top shareholder, Washington H Soul Pattinson.
($1 = 1.4310 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
