IFM Investors hits back at buyout target Atlas Arteria over expert valuation
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The news: IFM Investors has hit back at Atlas Arteria’s rejection of its $7 billion hostile takeover bid, calling the company’s independent expert report “unbalanced”, “selective” and “misleading”.
The context: The toll road operator issued a target’s statement last week, describing IFM’s $4.75-per-share bid as “too low, opportunistic and highly conditional”.
It accompanied an independent expert report by Kroll, which put the company’s control valuation range at between $5.39 and $6.20 per share.
But on Monday, in a third supplementary bidder’s statement, IFM said Kroll’s report included “a number of omissions and unreasonable assumptions”.
IFM, which holds a 35% stake in Atlas Arteria, also said the board’s claim that additional value can be created through asset sales and operational initiatives “is not credible”.
“The offer represents a limited opportunity to realise cash certain value: the bidder’s maximum consideration is best and final, in the absence of a competing proposal,” IFM said.
The source: ASX
