Australia's Perpetual jumps 10% on bidding war prospect

Washington H. Soul Pattinson and

07/12/2023 24:46

By Scott Murdoch
       SYDNEY, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Australian fund manager
Perpetual Ltd  PPT.AX  shares rose 10% in early trade on
Thursday after it rejected a A$3.1 billion  ($2 billion)
takeover offer from its largest investor, raising the prospect
of a bidding war for the firm.
    Perpetual stock hit the highest level in four months at
A$25.93 after the company turned down Washington H Soul
Pattinson's (WHSP)  SOL.AX  bid valuing it at A$27 a share.
    The bid, which would see Perpetual's asset management
business spun off, came hours after Perpetual announced a
strategic review to examine a similar move.
    WHSP's offer was the second Perpetual has rejected in just
over a year after it turned down a A$33 per share offer from
Barings Private Equity Asia (BPEA) and Regal Partners RPL.AX .
    "It now seems to be in play. With one bid on the table, we
would be surprised if further bids did not appear," Bell Potter
analyst Marcus Barnard wrote in a note to clients.
    The A$3.1 billion offer would consist of A$1.06 billion
worth of WHSP scrip and A$2 billion worth of Perpetual Asset
Management scrip as part of the spin off of that business.
    "An opportunistic offer, we expect Perpetual shares will
price in the likelihood of an enhanced bid along with potential
third-party interest from the strategic review," UBS analyst
Shreyas Patel wrote.
    WHSP shares were down 2.1% early Thursday.
    

($1 = 1.5270 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Stephen Coates)
 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))