Regal withdraws Pacific Current takeover bid
Regal Partners says it is walking away from a potential acquisition of Pacific Current because it is disappointed with the level of engagement from the company.
In a bombshell announcement to the ASX on Thursday, Regal said it had no confidence in the acquisition process as it formally withdrew its non-bindingindicative offer made in July that valued Pacific Current at $600 million.
GQG’s Rajiv Jain and Regal Partners’ Phil King are vying for control of Pacific Current Group.
The announcement sent shares in Pacific Current down 10.3 per cent to $10.05 when trading resumed on Thursday, while Regal gained 2.74 per cent to trade at $2.25.
Regal’s bid, made alongside another major shareholder River Capital, was swiftly followed by a response from ASX-listed global fund managerGQG Partners that expressed its intention to bid for Pacific Current, however never followed through with an offer in any form.
Pacific Current’s most valuable investment is its 4 per cent stake in GQG Partners, which has a market capitalisation of $4.16 billion. That was worth about $192 million at the time of the bid, or just under half the pre-bid market capitalisation of Pacific Current.
Shares in Pacific Current jumped 32 per cent to $10.32 after Regal’s bid was made public on July 27, and traded at close to that value at Wednesday’s close.
On Thursday, GQG Partners shares fell 1.75 per cent to $1.40, underperforming other listed managers.
Regal said it was walking away from the bid because it was “consistently disappointed with the engagement by the Pacific Current board since its initial [non-binding indicative offer] in March 2023.”
“Based on the manner in which Regal’s re-affirmed NBIO has been received, Regal has little confidence in the
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