It's been a strong session for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and many ASX shares so far this Tuesday. After returning from the long weekend, ASX investors seem to have a new spring in their steps. The ASX 200 is currently up a healthy 0.8% at just over 8,580 points. But one ASX 200 member isn't participating in this happy rally today. That would be Johns Lyng Group Ltd (ASX: JLG) shares.
Johns Lyng shares closed at $2.54 each last Friday afternoon. And that's where they'll be staying today.
That's because this morning, just before market open, the building services company announced that its shares would be placed in a trading halt this Tuesday.
According to Johns Lyng, this trading halt was requested "following media speculation regarding a potential change of control transaction".
The company went on to tell investors that it "expects the trading halt will last until the earlier of the making an announcement to the ASX in relation to the potential transaction or the commencement of trading on Thursday, 12th June 2025".
That's all we know for sure for now, as Johns Lyng hasn't made any other share market announcements as of yet.
However, the "media speculation" that the company mentioned is undoubtedly an article in the Australian Financial Review (AFR) this morning.
Johns Lyng shares halted as takeover rumours swirl
This article alleges that Johns Lyng has received a takeover offer from Pacific Equity Partners (PEP). According to the report, "PEP started sniffing around the business last year and has in recent weeks secured exclusivity". According to the AFR, PEP is "well-entrenched in due diligence". Even so, there are no concrete developments yet that indicate a deal will eventuate.
The same report states that Johns Lyng was approached regarding a possible takeover three months ago by two other private equity firms – the USA's KKR and Sweden's EQT. KKR was reportedly "the closest to securing a deal", but ultimately couldn't quite square the circle.
Since the start of 2025, the Johns Lyng share price has been on a steep decline, dropping 33.3% since 1 January. The primary catalyst for this drop was the disappointing earnings guidance that Johns Lyng dropped back in February.
As we covered at the time, this revealed some pretty lacklustre numbers for the company's six months to 31 December 2024. But the real disappointment was Johns Lyng's revelation that it now expects to report $1.167 billion in revenues for the full 2025 financial year. That's a 5% drop from what the company previously expected.
Johns Lyng shares fell more than 30% on this announcement, and haven't recovered since.
But perhaps Johns Lyng shares' pain could be PEP's gain. We'll have to wait and see what the company announces later this week.
