Matthew Proud, CEO of Dye & Durham.
Dye & Durham has made 25 acquisitions in nine years as part of its Chairman’s aggressive global growth strategy.
“We plan to remain focused on allocating capital to deals with attractive economics, consistent cash flow and significant growth potential, and optimizing them to deliver additional shareholder value.”
Dye & Durham’s proposed buyout of Link came closest to four different takeover attempts for Link by different parties over the past two years.
Link shareholders had already approved the buyout at a scheme meeting, but it was overturned in recent weeks by decisions by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on the collapse in mid-2019 of a Woodford retail fund in the UK managed by Link’s British , derailed subsidiary Link Fund Solutions.
Link’s UK subsidiary was fined an additional £50m ($85m) by the FCA on September 21, after being ordered to set aside $519m in funds before it approved the $2.5 billion buyout deal.
Link’s most valuable asset is its 42.8% stake in e-property billing company PEXA, a near-monopoly operator of e-conveyancing in Australia. PEXA is independently listed on the ASX.
Dye & Durham first made an agreed takeover bid for Link in December, then revised it to $4.81 per share in July to reflect a sharp fall in technology stock valuations and broader stock market weakness as central banks around the world hiked interest rates.
Almost a week ago, she made another revised proposal that included a two-part deferred payment mechanism after the FCA demanded that $519 million in funds be set aside following the collapse of the UK’s Woodford retail fund. This Woodford Equity Income Fund was frozen in mid-2019. But Link’s board rejected the two-part payment option.
Two UK law firms, Leigh Day and Harcus Parker, are pursuing the subsidiary in a separate class action on behalf of 20,000 retail investors in UK courts.
The FCA has investigated the collapse of the £3.7bn in funds managed by fallen star stockpicker Neil Woodford. After a 25-year career as a fund manager at Invesco Perpetual, once known as the ‘Oracle of Oxford’, Mr Woodford had a large following among private investors when he started his own business.
US private equity firm The Carlyle Group withdrew from an initial bid of $5.38 per share late last year after weeks of detailed due diligence. This offer consisted of two components: $3 for Link’s core business and a pro rata distribution of Link’s interest in PEXA to Link shareholders.
In late 2020, Carlyle and Pacific Equity Partners tracked Link in a joint tilt that saw an indicative bid reach as high as $5.40. The US group SS&C Technologies made a takeover proposal worth 3 billion US dollars at the end of 2020, but withdrew after a month of due diligence.
Comments are closed.