While most of the focus Wednesday was on the fallout from the federal budget, a couple of non-related announcements from Crown Resorts and Telstra caught our eye.
…………
The takeover of stumbling casino group Crown Resorts (ASX: CWN) edged a little closer yesterday when the independent expert gave Blackstone’s $8.9 billion bid a tick for being fair and reasonable.
The statement from Crown says its board recommends that investors vote in favour of the scheme in the absence of a higher offer.
Blackstone is offering $13.10 a share.
The scheme meeting to approve the deal is scheduled to be held April 29.
Approval requires that more than 50% of Crown shareholders present and voting, and at least 75% of votes cast at the meeting, must be in favour of the deal.
Blackstone’s bid has been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Now the market is waiting to see what James Packer does with his 37% of Crown and how he votes at the scheme meeting. Media reports say he will fall in behind Blackstone, take the cash and exit the casino industry.
…………
Investors were mildly negative yesterday in their reaction to the news that Telstra (ASX: TLS) is set to get its first ever female boss.
A day after revealing a new corporate structure for the next few years, Telstra has announced that CEO Andy Penn will retire after more than seven years in the role and will be replaced by current chief financial officer Vicki Brady.
The news of the change had been sort of expected as Mr Penn drove the final bits of the telco’s 2025 restructuring plan after successfully overseeing its T22 transformation (from which the T25 changes follow automatically).
Telstra shares eased 0.7% to $3.90 on Wednesday when the ASX-200 was up a solid 50 points.
Mr Penn joined Telstra in 2012 as chief financial officer and has been CEO since 2015. Ms Brady takes up her new role on September 1. She joined Telstra in 2016 and has been the chief financial officer since 2019.
Telstra chair John Mullen said in Wednesday’s statement that Mr Penn had led the company during a period of “significant change” as it implemented its T22 strategy while also grappling with the pandemic.
“In recent years, not only has Andy ensured the successful delivery of our T22 commitments, he has provided leadership at what has truly been an extraordinary time as we have navigated both as a company and a nation through the challenges of the pandemic.”
Mr Mullen said Ms Brady, who will be based in Sydney, is an ideal candidate to take over.
“She has played a key leadership role in the development of Telstra’s T25 strategy and is well-placed to lead through the company through its next phase,” he said.
The new corporate structure for the telco will see the creation of a new holding company, which will be named Telstra Group.
Telstra Group will in turn have four main entities – InfraCo Fixed, Amplitel (InfraCo Towers), Telstra Ltd (ServeCo) and Telstra International.
Telstra will use a Scheme of Arrangement to implement key parts of the restructure in creating Telstra Group. This will involve the transfer of assets and liabilities within the entities, which will be transferred by court order, and is expected to occur in late August and the new structure and listed company will be in place by the end of October.
