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Shareholders enjoy handsome takeover bids Lex Hall | 24 May 2021Text size
Shareholders in several ASX companies have enjoyed handsome takeover bids, with this month’s bid for Crown Resorts the latest to be launched following a strong start to the year.
Asset managers say other takeover bids are likely, with private equity’s huge stores of cash and the low cost of borrowing making bids easier as companies seek growth by joining with others.
Private-equity firm Blackstone and casino operator Star Entertainment Group (ASX: SGR) have both bid for gaming group Crown Resorts (ASX: CWN). Morningstar analyst Angus Hewitt says another bid for narrow-moat Crown is likely after the company rejected Blackstone s revised bid of $12.35 cash per share. Morningstar’s fair value estimate remains unchanged at $12.14, compared to its current price around $12.90, up from around $10 before Blackstone’s first bid in March.
Star Entertainment Group and US private equity investor
Crown Resorts, Australia’s biggest casino company by market capitalization.
Star is offering an all-stock buyout for Crown, which would create a A$12 billion (US$9.4 billion) entertainment and tourism entity and make available A$200 million in annual savings for the combined group. Star is offering 2.68 of its shares for each Crown stock with a value of A$14 per share. It has also offered a cash alternative of A$12.50 per share for as much as 25 percent of Crown’s issued shares.
Star’s proposal came minutes after Crown announced that Blackstone had topped its offer by 50 cents per share to A$12.35 per share, worth A$8.3 billion.
James Packer set to fall further down the Rich List
Feb 10, 2021 â 5.14pm
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Once Australiaâs wealthiest person, James Packer will struggle to make the top 20 of this yearâs Financial Review Rich List if the worst forecasts for the share price of his major asset, Crown Resorts, are realised.
After commissioner Patricia Berginâs explosive report to the NSW gaming regulator on Tuesday, which deemed Crown Resorts unsuitable to operate the casino at the heart of its $2 billion Barangaroo project in Sydney, Crownâs shares tumbled 3.4 per cent to $9.81 on Wednesday.
Macquarie Equities thinks they will fall further and reduced its target price from $11.00 to $8.30 on Wednesday on the assumption that the reforms Bergin recommended would delay the start of gambling at Barangaroo by two years.
The most shorted stocks in Australia Lex Hall and Emma Rapaport | 09 Feb 2021Text size
Travel agent Webjet, seafood producer Tassal Group, biotech play Mesoblast, poultry producer Inghams and skin graft pioneer Avita Medical. These are some of the most shorted stocks in Australia.
According to Morningstar and ASIC data, the list of the 20 most shorted stocks includes eight companies under Morningstar coverage, several of which are undervalued. Among them is wide moat-rated funeral home operator InvoCare, which is trading at a discount of 21 per cent to the Morningstar fair value estimate. So too is the narrow-moat a2 Milk Co, which is trading at a discount of 33 per cent.