Deal: Ashurst has advised nib holdings limited (nib) on its acquisition of Maple Plan and its $150 million capital raising via a fully underwritten institutional placement (Placement) and share purchase plan (SPP).

Value: N/A

Area: Merger and acquisition

Key players: The Ashurst team was led by partner Miriam Kleiner, who was assisted by partner Greg Golding, senior associate Miao Qun Unsworth-Tang and associate Hassan Naveed along with associate Maxine Viertmann.

Deal significance: The proceeds from the equity raising will be used to fund nib’s entry into Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) sector as a plan manager. Maple Plan is the seventh-largest plan manager in Australia, serving around 7,000 NDIS participants and reported $4.8 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in financial year 2022. Nib is actively assessing further acquisitions.

Approximately 19.6 million new shares in nib will be issued under the Placement, representing approximately 4.3 per cent of nib’s ordinary shares on issue.

Following completion of the Placement, nib will offer eligible existing Australian and New Zealand shareholders the opportunity to apply for new nib shares through an SPP without brokerage fees. The application for new shares under the SPP will be capped at a maximum of $30,000 per shareholder (subject to scale back in the nib board’s absolute discretion if applications under the SPP exceed $15 million).

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Commenting on the deal, Ms Kleiner said the firm was “delighted to have assisted nib in relation to this important acquisition and its entry into the NDIS plan manager market”.