The Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC) share price closed the week around 19% higher at $4.59 after news became public that at least two businesses were interested in buying the group. On Monday we had news that Swedish private equity group EQT Infrastructure was prepared to pay $5.25 cash per share for Vocus assuming it was still happy to go ahead after taking a look under the hood over a period of agreed due diligence.
That offer valued Vocus around $3.3 billion on a market cap basis with 622.3 million shares on issue, but we must remember Vocus also has a $1.1 billion net debt load.
In other words on an enterprise value basis EQT would be paying $4.4 billion in having to assume the debt.
Overall then the consensus in the market was that this was a reasonably strong offer and not likely to be trumped.
Today it was also confirmed that ASX-listed energy retailer AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL) also recently approached about a potential Vocus takeover.
However, the approach never went far as the two parties reportedly couldn't agree on due diligence terms, which is a slightly unusual outcome if correct.
