PEP wishes upon Modern Star; Onsite Rentals RFP; Scentre lines up David Jones

Good evening,

There's signs of life in another M&A deal that was put on ice amid the market mayhem in March and April.

Australian buyout heavyweight Pacific Equity Partners is putting together a bid for educational resources company Modern Star, which is owned by regional buyout firm Navis Capital. The bid's understood to be worth more than $650 million and Navis is set to put it up against a refinancing, which is also in its late stages.

The revived Modern Star sale plans come after Navis and its suitors dropped talks when it became obvious COVID-19 would have an impact on the Australia/China business.

Meanwhile, bids are set to land for David Jones' $600 million-plus property portfolio, while float contender Onsite Rental Group is back in banker pitchbooks – and not for an IPO.

Happy reading,
Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd
Street Talk Editors