The American private equity company TPG Global made a non-binding takeover offer to the Australian provider of funeral services InvoCare Ltd (IVC.AX) on Tuesday, raising the price of its shares by 39.1%.
Following the news, InvoCare’s shares soared to A$12.450 and were expected to increase by a record amount, while the overall market (.AXJO) dropped 0.1% in early trading.
The A$12.65 per share proposal, which marks the first one made by a private equity firm in 2023 amid rising merger and acquisition interest in Australia, is at a premium of 41.3% to the stock’s most recent close.
According to a statement from the business, TPG Global has also purchased a roughly 17.8% interest in InvoCare through a combination of physical ownership and derivatives.
InvoCare, located in New South Wales, declared that it is in favour of the proposal and has started to evaluate it.
The business revealed last month that it switched from an annual profit of A$80.2 million to a deficit of A$1.8 million.
TPG Global previously made a A$1.38 billion offer for personnel management services provider Smartgroup Corp (SIQ.AX) in 2021, but the takeover negotiations stalled.
$1 is equal to 1.4859 Australian dollars.