The local board of information provider and credit rating group Veda (VED) has unanimously recommended the $2.5 billion takeover bid from its credit US data peer Equifax.
The Veda board told the ASX that it “has entered into a binding agreement with Equifax Inc whereby Equifax will acquire all of the shares of Veda at a price of A$2.825 cash per share, by way of a scheme of arrangement”.
The bid “represents an implied market capitalisation of $2,506 million and an implied enterprise value of $2,617 million for the year ended June 30 on a fully diluted basis,” Veda’s statement said.
“The directors of Veda unanimously recommend that Veda shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme", saying the bid marked an "attractive premium" of 42% over the closing price of $1.995 on September 17, before the original announcement of interest was made known.
Veda’s shares closed unchanged on Friday at $2.69. Yesterday they rose 2.4% to $2.75 at the close.
“The offer price of A$2.825 cash per share is a higher price than Veda has previously traded at since it listed in December 2013,” the statement added.
The board approval is something of a rarity these days – an unexpected takeover bid that gets up without too much fuss.
We have seen Treasury Wine Estates reject at least two approaches from private equity groups, to the benefit of shareholders as the company’s performance boomed.
Santos has spurned at least two approaches, Oil Search is holding Woodside at bay.
Tabcorp and Tatts couldn’t agree on a merger of equals proposal while Nine Entertainment and Southern Cross Austereo called off wedding plans as well after news leaked out and Southern Cross shares went for a run.
