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UPDATE 2-Australia's Pacific Current gets $359 mln takeover offer from money manager GQG

Rishav Chatterjee
Updated ·2 min read

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Offer price represents 20% premium to Wednesday close

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GQG in talks with River Capital over garnering support

(Recasts first paragraph and adds analyst comments, details and background)

By Rishav Chatterjee

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Pacific Current disclosed on Wednesday a A$567.3 million ($359.04 million) takeover bid from GQG Partners, but said the global fund manager flagged lack of support from its largest shareholder.

Pacific, which serially invests in growing asset managers locally, was recently the target of a bidding war between Regal Partners and GQG, with top stakeholder River Capital lobbying for Regal.

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GQG has till date been unable to obtain support from River Capital, which owns around 19% stake in Pacific.

"GQG has engaged with Pacific's largest shareholder, River Capital, with a view to securing their support for the proposal (in the absence of a superior proposal)," Pacific said in a statement.

River Capital did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Pacific's independent board committee (IBC) confirmed that it had received a bid from GQG for the acquisition of the entire firm for A$11 per share in cash, representing a 20.1% premium to the stock's close on Wednesday.

"The committee is fine with the deal, but there is still the question of River Capital with the 19% stake," said Henry Jennings, a senior analyst at marcustoday.

"Maybe the two of them will need to get creative to get River on side with this offer. But it's a good offer and is a big premium."

The asset manager had set up the committee to explore various alternatives to maximise shareholder return. "The IBC considers the GQG Proposal (to) represent an attractive value outcome for all PAC shareholders," Pacific said.

Although Florida-based GQG had not formally submitted a bid, Regal walked away from its proposed A$573.5 million offer in late September.

GQG, which also owns stakes in companies part of India's Adani Group through its funds, previously updated the market regarding its intention to bid for Pacific.

($1 = 1.5800 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Janane Venkatraman)