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After an attempt to acquire the entirety of Link Administration Holdings (ASX: LNK) for $2.46 billion fell through just two weeks ago, Dye & Durham (D&D) has returned to the fray with a new proposal.
Following a trading halt on Tuesday evening, Link announced this morning that it had received a confidential, non-binding, conditional and indicative proposal from D&D for its corporate markets business worth $1.27 billion.
The bid is on a cash and debt free basis, based on a normalised level of working capital, and was provided as long as discussions between the parties occurred on an exclusive basis.
According to LNK, this latest proposal followed two earlier confidential and non-binding bids from D&D received on Sunday 2 October and sometime last week to acquire the same arm for $1.1 billion and $950 million respectively.
Link says it considered both of those proposals and determined not to engage with D&D, however this third, larger tilt remains in play.
“The Link Group board will consider Dye & Durham’s third proposal, including obtaining advice from its financial, legal and tax advisers, and will provide Link Group shareholders with an update during the next week,” says Link.
D&D’s latest play follows the dismissal of its takeover attempt by the Supreme Court of NSW after three conditions precedent were not satisfied.
The Canadian company was particularly tripped over by the ‘Woodford Matters condition’, which related to a class action against Link in the UK over its failed $7 billion Woodford Equity Income Fund.
The deal also never received the blessings from the UK Financial Conduct Authority or the Luxembourg regulator. As such, Canada’s D&D saw its takeover fail to proceed.
“As a result, Link Group is disappointed to inform shareholders that despite Link Group working diligently over an extended period and using its best efforts, the proposed scheme with Dye & Durham…will not be proceeding,” Link said in late-September.
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