After bidder Humanforce Holdings increased its takeover offer by 50% to A$56.1 million ($37.38 million) on Monday to outbid a competitor, shares of Australian HR-services supplier IntelliHR (IHR.AX) increased as much as 14% to reach a nearly one-year high.
Humanforce offered IntelliHR A$0.165 per share, which is more than its previous proposal of A$0.11 per share and the competing cash offer of A$0.14 per share made earlier this month by the British software company The Access Group (TAG).
Cloud-based human resources software provider IntelliHR announced that Humanforce now holds a 19.9% majority share in the company and that it would support the sweetened agreement, which represents a 17.9% premium over TAG’s initial offer.
Shares of IntelliHR closed the day at A$0.165, matching Humanforce’s most recent offer and reaching their best level since mid-April of last year.
The Australian company’s board was considering TAG’s offer, which valued it at A$49.1 million, but kept its recommendation in favor of the Humanforce deal.
The workforce management software provider Humanforce, which has its headquarters in Sydney, is a portfolio business of Accel-KKR, in which the private equity firm has a majority stake.
The Australia-New Zealand region’s technology-focused companies are anticipated to participate in mergers and acquisitions this year as major western players look to join the markets by investing in start-up companies.
$1 is equal to 1.5008 Australian dollars.