Investment group TPG pulls $1.8 billion bid for funeral operator InvoCare, shares slide

After the parent company of White Lady Funerals knocked back a $1.8 billion takeover bid from investment giant TPG Global in late March, the suitor has today confirmed it has entirely pulled out of discussions with InvoCare (ASX: IVC).

Per an announcement to the ASX, InvoCare says it has been advised by TPG that the bidder has withdrawn its proposal of $12.65 cash per share, but that the target’s board ‘remains willing to consider any proposal that represents fair value in the interests of all shareholders’.

TPG, a US-based investment manager that has backed the likes of Airbnb, Chobani, Calm, Greencross Vets and more, would have acquired 100 per cent of InvoCare for $1.8 billion in total if the deal was accepted.

20 days after that bid was first lobbed, InvoCare returned to deny TPG full due diligence, and said that the proposed deal did ‘not provide compelling value for InvoCare shareholders’.

Today, InvoCare says TPG has walked away despite an olive branch being offered by the funeral services provider that owns brands including White Lady Funerals, Simplicity Funerals and Value Cremations.

“As previously announced, the Board of Directors of InvoCare unanimously concluded that the Indicative Proposal did not provide compelling value for shareholders and therefore access to full due diligence would not be granted to TPG,” InvoCare said.

“InvoCare offered TPG the opportunity to access limited, non-public financial information on a non-exclusive basis, to assist TPG to formulate a revised proposal.

“TPG did not sign a customary confidentiality agreement to access this information nor provide InvoCare with a revised proposal to consider.”

In the wake of TPG pulling its bid, shares in InvoCare have fallen by 14.53 per cent to $10.35 per share at 11.10am AEDT.