Private education group Curro claims it is still keen to pursue an acquisition of rival Advtech, and has revealed how much it may be prepared to pay for the company.
This comes a day after Advtech’s board rejected Curro’s advances after spending a “considerable amount of time” considering its rival’s offer.
Curro said on Wednesday that it has been in discussions with Advtech management since early April. This led to a firm expression of interest by Curro, which was submitted to the CEO and chairman at the end of April, it said.
Two weeks later, Advtech met with PSG Group, Curro’s majority shareholder, to discuss the proposed offer and a potential increase in the offer price that had been tabled.
“As the Advtech representatives indicated that they did not believe the initial price offered for Advtech shares to be acceptable, [they] were informed that Curro would approach Advtech’s largest shareholders to determine a fair share price acceptable to them.”
According to Curro, the offer acceptable to the major Advtech shareholders was R13 per Advtech share.
“This represents a 42% premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price of Advtech at 28 April 2015, the date prior to the submission of Curro’s initial expression of interest to Advtech, Curro said.
“It also represents a 62% premium to the R8,02 share price at which Advtech recently issued shares to acquire Maravest … which was a share price Advtech management felt was a fair reflection of Advtech’s share value.”
Curro said its proposed offer is based on a share swap valued at R33,65 per Curroshare, resulting in a ratio of 2,59 Advtech shares for every one Curro share.
“The proposed offer also includes a 50% cash underpin for Advtech shareholders who do not wish to accept Curro shares (a minority shareholder is likely to be able to receive 100% cash, as many of the major shareholders have indicated a preference for Curro shares).”
Given that Curro is still contemplating whether to resubmit an offer, the company has decided not to withdraw its cautionary announcement related to the potential deal.
Advtech’s share price leapt higher on the news, closing up by 5,2% at R12,20/share. Curro fell by 0,6%, ending the session at R34,30/share. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
- See also: Advtech rejects Curro’s advances
