TPG’s $1.8b InvoCare takeover fair and reasonable: expert
TPG Capital’s $1.8 billion buyout offer for Australia’s largest funerals company is clearing a string of potential hurdles, with an independent expert saying the $12.70 per share cash offer is “fair and reasonable”.
The private equity firm has also been given the all-clear by New Zealand regulators, with the Overseas Investment Office late on Friday approving it to become the owner of 50 locations operated by InvoCare in the country.
InvoCare is Australia’s largest funerals homes and crematoria operator, with 282 locations in the country, and brands including White Lady Funerals, Simplicity Funerals, Le Pine and Allan Drew Funerals. The scheme booklet, containing an opinion by independent expert Kroll Australia that the bid is fair and reasonable, is set to be officially unveiled on Monday.
TPG’s revised $12.70 a share offer price agreed to on August 9 by the InvoCare board was only slightly higher than an original $12.65 a share proposal made in March, which the board rejected at the time as too low.
InvoCare has national brands including Simplicity Funerals and White Lady Funerals. Steven Siewert
The Supreme Court in NSW on Friday approved an InvoCare scheme meeting to be held on October 31, where shareholders will vote on the deal. The board said directors are unanimously backing the offer lacking a higher bid. The scheme booklet will outline that Kroll has concluded the offer is “fair and reasonable” and the proposal is in the best interests of investors.
InvoCare shares closed at $12.54 on Friday.
Cost inflation, particularly higher wages for staff, and lower demand for funeral services across the industry in the last half compared with a year earlier, crimped InvoCare’s results for the six months ended June 30. The
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