The Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) share price has stormed 34% higher over the past month. This means the airport operator's shares are now above 50% of what they were trading at this time last year.
At Monday's market close, the Sydney Airport share price finished the day slightly down 0.26% to $7.79.
Let's take a closer look at what drove the company's shares higher last month.
Takeover proposal
Investors were buying up Sydney Airport shares after the company announced a takeover proposal in early July.
According to its release, Sydney Airport received a conditional, non-binding proposal from a consortium of infrastructure investors. The offer put forward an indicative price of $8.25 cash per Sydney Airport share. This represented a premium of 42% on Sydney Airport's previous closing price of $5.81 on 2 July 2021.
When the news broke out, the Sydney Airport share price flew to a 52-week high of $8.04. However, in the weeks following, the airport's board unanimously concluded the proposal undervalues the company. As such, the board recommended it was not in the best interests of shareholders to proceed with the deal.
The board noted that Sydney Airport is a world-class airport and one of Australia's most important infrastructure assets. In addition, while COVID-19 continues to impact the company's performance, Sydney Airport believes it is strongly positioned to deliver long-term growth. This is based on vaccination rates increasing as we move into a post-pandemic recovery period.
While the board rejected the offer, this doesn't necessarily mean that Sydney Airport won't receive a revised indicative proposal.
Sydney Airport share price summary
Before the wild acceleration last month, Sydney Airport shares had been moving predominately in circles. The company's share price is still down on pre-pandemic levels, during which it reached around $9 per share.
Sydney Airport commands a market capitalisation of roughly $21 billion, ranking it as the 22nd largest company on the ASX.
