On behalf of its shareholders, MacarthurCook's board has turned down AMP's all-cash takeover offer, claiming it is incomplete and not high enough.
"If AMP was to make a firm offer to MacarthurCook's shareholders, the board would consider that offer on its merits," the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
MacarthurCook also said that AMP's offer was highly conditional on the basis that company directors surrender their shares at a price.
AMP also wanted to conduct due diligence and demanded a break fee of 1 per cent according to the statement.
AMP had offered $31 million in cash for the real estate fund manager on June 10, valuing MacarthurCook at $1.35 a share; an offer worth 70 per cent less than MacarthurCook's record stock price of $4.40 set in March last year.
AMP, with $104 billion of assets, would integrate some of MacarthurCook's struggling funds into its investment arm, AMP said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Major shareholder, Ascalon Capital Managers, has already entered a pre-bid agreement with AMP to sell off its 18.37 per cent holding in MacarthurCook.
On June 13 MacarthurCook formed a strategic alliance with financial services group IOOF Holdings, to become the direct property and mortgage investment manager of the IOOF Group.
