Australia's Perpetual hits 2-month high after rejecting $1.19 bln buyout bid

Great China Holdings Hong Kong

10/11/2022 01:09

(Adds analyst comment, updates milestones)
    ** Shares of asset manager Perpetual Ltd  PPT.AX  rise as
much as 6.5% to A$30.98 in early trade, their highest level
since Aug 19
    ** Says it is rejecting a A$33 per share offer from a
consortium consisting of EQT-owned Barings Private Equity Asia
(BPEA) and Regal Partners  RPL.AX   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N32558B
    ** New offer price, valuing the firm at A$1.85 bln ($1.19
bln), is 10% higher than the prior offer price of A$30 per
share, and a 13.4% premium to PPT's last closing price
    ** Pendal Group  PDL.AX , which Perpetual is in the process
of acquiring, slips as much as 6.4% to A$4.11, its lowest level
since July 18
    ** MST Emerging analyst Lafitani Sotiriou notes Perpetual
rejecting the premium offer citing "execution risks," says the
risks are more pertinent to RPL's shareholders
        ** Sotiriou adds PPT's bid for PDL has significant
execution risks for PPT shareholders, driven by downgrade in
PDL's earnings outlook after its latest results release, making
the deal no longer accretive to PPT
        ** PPT posts biggest intraday pct gain since Nov 3 
    ** PPT stock down 19.1% YTD, as of last close 
    ($1 = 1.5557 Australian dollars)
 (Reporting by Harshita Swaminathan)
 ((Harshita.Swaminathan@thomsonreuters.com))