TPG starts a dicey dance with death Down Under

InvoCare

07/03/2023 02:33

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are his own.)
    By Antony Currie
       MELBOURNE, March 7 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The private
equity firm is offering $1.5 bln for funeral-services firm
InvoCare. The target could use some help after losing market
share. But the 41% premium means the buyer would be piling on
debt as interest rates rise. Making a decent return would
require some deft footwork. 

    Full view will be published shortly.
    Follow @AntonyMCurrie on Twitter
         
    CONTEXT NEWS 
      TPG Global, a fund run by U.S. private equity firm TPG, on
March 7 made a non-binding, indicative offer for InvoCare which
values the Australian funeral-services company’s enterprise at
almost A$2.2 billion ($1.5 billion). The equity value of the
offer is A$1.8 billion.
    The private equity firm had the previous day bought an
almost 18% stake in the company from a variety of investors at
A$12.65 a share. It owns the majority in stock, with some 7%
bought via a swap deal with UBS.  It was the same offer as its
ensuing bid for the rest of the company and represents a 41%
premium to the closing price on March 6. 

 (Editing by Robyn Mak and Thomas Shum)
 ((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  CURRIE/ 
SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS https://bit.ly/BVsubscribe
 | antony.currie@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
antony.currie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))