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Minters, Freehills, advise on $373m CBA acquisition
Minter Ellison and Freehills are legal advisers as the CBA swooped on Count Financial, offering shareholders $373m to acquire the network of financial planning accountants.
The New Lawyer
FREEHILLS and Minter Ellison are legal advisers as Commonwealth Bank of Australia swooped on Count Financial, offering shareholders $373 million to acquire the network of financial planning accountants.
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Count today said it had entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed without the CBA, under which the bank will acquire all of the ordinary shares in Count, subject to shareholder approval.
Count on Tuesday said CBA had made an unsolicited cash offer of $1.40 per share, which is 14.6 times Count's normalised net profit after tax of $25.6 million for the year to 30 June 2011.
The board of Count unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the scheme, in the absence of a superior offer.
Count shareholders will have the choice of receiving $1.40 per Count share or $1.40 in CBA shares.
Minters advised Count Financial on the deal, and Freehills acted for CBA.
M&A partner James Philips headed up the Minters team with partner Michael Barr-David, financial services partner Nathan Cahill and corporate M&A special counsel Michael Donovan.
Freehills corporate M&A partner Tony Damian, corporate financial partner Michael Vrisakis, M&A senior associate Nicole Underhill and M&A lawyer Ben Jones worked on the deal.
