Good evening,

There’s nothing like a $20 billion listed takeover bid to get everyone excited.

KKR and friends delivered just that this week, when Street Talk revealed it’s been stalking Ramsay Health Care for at least half a year.

Sure enough, Ramsay confirmed KKR’s $88-a-share offer on Wednesday morning.

It’s the first time in Ramsay’s 60-year history that it’s in play.

From where we are now, it doesn’t look like KKR would face any major hurdles if it were to firm up its offer to the board’s liking.

That’s because largest shareholder Ramsay Foundation seems on the same page as the company board, Ramsay’s other substantial shareholder BlackRock is usually not the one to stir the pot, and fund managers have watched the share price go sideways for two years.

Everyone will have their eyes peeled for a competing bid over the next few weeks (KKR got due diligence on a non-exclusive basis), but we haven’t spotted one yet.

Elsewhere, German renewables business Wircon has put its Australian solar assets on the auction block, sparking hopes of an $850 million odd sale; Charter Hall’s raising a new fund.

And there’s a new rare earths explorer headed for the ASX with Rich Lister Chris Ellison as its biggest backer.

Happy reading,

Yolanda Redrup, Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Anthony Macdonald
Street Talk Editors