Hats off to Perpetual and Pendal for bringing back M&A Monday. The crosstown rivals are thinking about life together, after Perpetual lobbed a scrip-heavy offer valuing Pendal at about $2.6 billion.
Pendal shares soared on Monday, while Perpetual’s slumped – both expected moves given the mooted deal and their respective positions.
Pendal’s board said it was considering the bid. The fact it disclosed the offer is a clear sign it’s willing to think about a deal, and perhaps the whole affair may help get some short sellers off their back.
In Street Talk tonight, we reveal that Perpetual is not exactly the hot stock inside Pendal. Its investment team, responsible for about $20 billion in assets, is understood to hold none of it in their investment portfolios.
While it’s up to Pendal’s board to value and think about the bid, the investments team will need to be behind it should the deal ever be successful for shareholders.
The talks, reheated two months after Suncorp walked away from the negotiating table, are understood to exclude Cover-More, which was the fly in the ointment last time around.
Happy reading, Anthony Macdonald, Sarah Thompson and Kanika Sood Street Talk editors
While Pendal’s board takes the next week or so to consider rival Perpetual’s scrip-heavy $2.4 billion bid, its rockstar stockpickers have been keeping tabs on PPT for years.
Listed insurance aggregator AUB Group Limited is understood to be doing the rounds to line up funding as word gets out on the acquisition it’s been sussing out.
