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IPH moves to acquire QANTM
IPH Limited has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire QANTM Intellectual Property Limited, with what the former calls a “significant premium” on that being offered by other interested parties.
Jerome Doraisamy
After the market closed yesterday (Tuesday, 7 May), QANTM received an unsolicited non-binding indicative proposal from IPH to acquire all its shares by way of scheme of arrangement for 0.291 IPH shares and a fully franked special dividend of up to $0.11 cash per QANTM share.
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The news follows an earlier proposal for full acquisition from UK-based IP firm Rouse International Holdings, as reported in February, as well as an indicative offer from Australia-based investment management firm Adamantem Capital in mid-March.
Speaking about the proposal, IPH chief executive Dr Andrew Blattman (pictured) said: “Pursuing strategic and financially accretive M&A has long been a core pillar of IPH’s growth strategy, and we are regularly assessing a range of potential transactions across the regions in which we operate.”
“We believe that the time is right for a combination of QANTM and IPH, and we see a compelling strategic rationale to the acquisition which will support a range of benefits to shareholders, employees, and clients.”
If successful, Blattman went on, “we look forward to pursuing a range of growth initiatives in partnership with the QANTM team, particularly in relation to continuing to invest in our ANZ service offering and leveraging our combined platform across Asia to increase our market penetration”.
In its statement to the market, IPH suggested that its offer “represents significant premium” to QANTM’s share price prior to the approaches from Rouse and Adamantem and is a “superior proposal” given what it labelled the “attractive value offered”, ongoing ability for QANTM shareholders to get benefits from a combination, and “enhanced liquidity” of IPH shares compared to QANTM “and unlisted shares in the Adamantem acquisition entity”.
Blattman said: “Our proposal represents compelling value to QANTM shareholders, and we have proposed an accelerated timetable to ensure timely execution of binding transaction documentation.”
Implementation of IPH’s non-binding indicative proposal is subject to various conditions, including satisfactory completion of due diligence, a unanimous recommendation and subsequent vote in favour of the proposed transaction by the entire QANTM board, final board approval from IPH to execute the transaction, as well as approval from both the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and New Zealand Commerce Commission.
More to come.
