Perpetual Limited has informed shareholders that it has rejected an “unsolicited” conditional, non-binding indicative proposal from a consortium comprising of BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII and Regal Partners Limited.
The consortium has offered to acquire 100 per cent of the shares on issue in Perpetual at a price of $30.00 cash per share.
According to Perpetual, the offer “materially undervalues” the company.
“This offer is uncertain and conditional, and the Perpetual board believes that it is not in the best interests of its shareholders to engage on this offer and has therefore rejected the offer,” the company told its shareholders.
Perpetual went on to reaffirm its commitment to acquiring Pendal Group, first announced to shareholders on 25 August 2022.
Perpetual’s board has advised shareholders to “take no action at this time”, adding that it would keep investors informed in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.
The proposed acquisition of Perpetual comes just weeks after the company reported a 1 per cent dip in funds under advice under its Perpetual Private business over the past quarter, down to $17.2 billion.
According to the company, the main driver of the decline was negative market movements, partially offset by positive new inflows of $0.1 billion.
Overall, Perpetual’s total assets under management (AUM) were $89.8 billion as at 30 September, 1 per cent lower than the prior period, with negative market impacts and flows offset by positive currency movements.
[Related: Perpetual reports shrinking AUM amid negative market impacts]
