AUB Group Ltd (ASX: AUB) has confirmed speculation that private equity firm EQT has approached it with a takeover offer, saying the Danish firm had offered to buy it out for $45 per share.
This would be a huge 40.2% premium to the closing price last Friday, before rumours about the deal were aired in both the Australian Financial Review and The Australian on Monday.
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Deal on the table
AUB shares were placed in a trading halt on Monday, and the company on Tuesday said in a statement to the ASX that the rumours were correct.
The $4.2 billion insurance firm said the talks about a possible buyout had kicked off on September 13, when EQT offered an initial $43 per share.
This was then increased to $45 per share on September 26.
Trade in AUB Group shares intensified on Monday, with the number of shares changing hands more than doubling from Friday's levels to 447,000 shares traded.
Talks continuing
The company told the ASX on Tuesday morning it had not revealed any information to its shareholders about the offer because "the information relates to an incomplete proposal or negotiation" and the talks remained confidential.
However, upon becoming aware of the relevant headline and article in the Australian Financial Review, AUB requested trading in its securities to be paused by the ASX.
The company released a second statement to the ASX on Tuesday, saying that the talks with EQT were ongoing.
As the company explained:
After careful consideration, the AUB board determined that it would be in the best interests of AUB shareholders to enter into a confidentiality and exclusivity agreement with EQT to further progress the proposal as exclusivity was a key condition of the proposal.
The company said it had provided EQT with access to due diligence materials for a six-week period, which started on October 8.
The company said there was "no guarantee that the proposal will result in a transaction'', and shareholders did not have to take any action at this stage.
AUB is an S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) company comprised of a group of retail and wholesale insurance brokers and underwriting agencies, which operates in about 580 locations globally, according to its website.
The company was founded in 1985 and now has about one million clients and manages about $11 billion in insurance premiums.
EQT is based in Denmark and, in its most recent quarterly report, stated that it had approximately €267 billion ($474.3 billion) in assets under management.
