Link hopes fifth time's a charm as MUFG comes knocking
The superannuation administration and share registry company is back under the mistletoe just in time for Christmas. But the company and its advisers UBS think this deal will stick.
The board of Link Group and its advisers at UBS are confident they have secured a Christmas miracle with the investment administration services provider back under the mistletoe following a $1.2 billion acquisition offer from Japanese financial services conglomerate MUFG.
It's not the first time this has happened - in fact its the fifth time Link has been subject to a takeover approach in the last few years. But the company and its advisors are confident MUFG's offer will stick because it's unconditional, while bids in the past have had bid conditions revolving around certain material adverse changes which allowed them to walk away.
And MUFG's offer is now at the scheme implementation stage, which means it has been in due diligence with Link long enough to understand its complexities and issues.
The last takeover deal for Link fell apart just over a year ago when Vancouver-based software and technology company Dye & Durham walked away from its proposal for parts of the business after lengthy negotiations.
