One ASX 300 stock is catching the eye with a strong gain on Friday.
That stock is Johns Lyng Group Ltd (ASX: JLG), which has seen its shares rise 23% to $3.92 this morning.
Why is this ASX 300 stock rocketing?
Investors have been bidding the insurance building and restoration services company's shares higher today after it revealed that it has accepted a takeover offer from Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).
According to the release, Johns Lyng has entered into a scheme implementation deed (SID) with Sherwood BidCo. It is an entity owned and controlled by funds managed and advised by PEP.
The SID will see PEP acquire 100% of the ordinary shares in the ASX 300 stock by way of a scheme of arrangement at a price of $4.00 per share.
Based on yesterday's close price of $3.18, this takeover offer represents a premium of 26%.
It is also a premium of 77% to its closing share price on 15 May 2025, which is the day prior to the receipt of PEP's first non-binding and indicative offer.
However, it is still a discount of approximately 35% to its 52-week high, which may be a big disappointment to some shareholders.
$1.1 billion deal
The ASX 300 stock notes that the scheme consideration values its equity at approximately $1.1 billion and implies an enterprise value (EV) of $1.3 billion.
It feels that this represents an attractive valuation for shareholders, including a transaction multiple of FY 2025 forecast EV/EBITDA of 10.3x.
The company's independent board committee (IBC) unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the scheme. This is in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the independent expert's report.
Commenting on the takeover agreement, the company's chair, Peter Nash, said:
We are pleased that PEP has recognised the value of JLG's integrated building services operations across Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The Scheme is an attractive transaction that provides JLG Shareholders with the opportunity to receive cash at a material premium.
The IBC's unanimous recommendation was based on a thorough evaluation of a range of factors including JLG's intrinsic value under different scenarios and the potential medium-term share price without the Scheme, and taking into consideration JLG's underlying business performance over the last two years and current business momentum.
