Advanced Innergy Holdings has lobbed a second takeover offer for Perth-based Matrix Composites & Engineering after addressing issues that caused its first offer to flounder last year.
Advanced Innergy Holdings has lobbed a second takeover offer for Perth-based Matrix Composites & Engineering after addressing issues that caused its first offer to flounder last year.
The new offer, revealed late on Monday, comprises 40 cents cash per share, a 66 per cent premium to Matrix’s trading price last Thursday, before AIH acquired a stake in the target.
Matrix shares last traded at 24 cents, valuing the company at $56 million.
AIH, which describes itself as a materials science technology company, is valued at $359 million after completing a $150 million capital raising and listing on the ASX last October.
Its previous proposal, submitted last year, was a reverse takeover designed to both acquire Matrix and give the UK-based group a listing on the ASX.
Matrix rejected the scrip-based proposal, which it said would have left its shareholders with just 20 per cent of the combined group.
The highly conditional nature of the proposal, including the requirement to complete a material capital raising, also influenced Matrix’s decision to reject it.
Matrix was non-committal on the latest proposal, saying it was being assessed and that shareholders do not need to take any action.
AIH acknowledged its new proposal was non-binding and indicative, as it required a “short period” of exclusive due diligence and approval from relevant regulatory and government bodies.
AIH said it looked forward to working collaboratively with the Matrix board so that shareholders could be presented with an offer with “a high degree of certainty, limited conditionality and minimal execution risk”.
In a statement, AIH said the proposed acquisition was a key part of its strategy to build a market leading technical buoyancy and subsea ancillaries platform and establish its manufacturing presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
It asserted that the combination of AIH and Matrix would create a platform “well positioned to capture a greater share of value in a growing market”.
Matrix’s Henderson manufacturing facility would provide AIH with “an immediately deployable regional production base for both local and global supply”.
To strengthen its hand in the takeover negotiations, a subsidiary of AIH has struck an options deal giving it the right to 19.9 per cent of Matrix’s issued shares.
AIH's financial adviser is Melbourne-based Henslow and its legal adviser is MinterEllison while matrix is advised by Azure Capital.
The proposal comes shortly after AIH completed the $20.7 million acquisition of Imenco Aqua, a supplier of technology for the aquaculture industry in Norway and Chile.
