Australia's Pepper Money falls after rejecting $706 mln takeover bid

Challenger

25/03/2026 24:27

Updates

** Pepper Money PPM.AX falls as much as 8% to A$1.545, lowest since June 2

** Stock logs worst day since March 17

** Non-banking lender rejects takeover approach from investment manager Challenger CGF.AX, citing execution concerns

** Offer valued co at A$1.01 billion ($706.2 million)

** "Challenger cutting its offer price effectively killed the deal... It would be difficult for Pepper Money to convince shareholders that the bid still offers an attractive premium," says ETF Shares CEO Cliff Man

** CGF gains as much as 5.6% to A$8.360, highest since March 4

** YTD, PPM down ~25%, CGF down 11.9%

($1 = A$1.4302)

 (Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

 ((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com))