Perpetual and Washington H. Soul Pattinson combined have two-and-half centuries of corporate history behind them. Both are a long way from where they started.
Perpetual was a trustee company co-founded by former prime minister Edmund Barton and media proprietor John Fairfax, together with other corporate luminaries of that era. Soul Patts was two companies, a merchant and a pharmacy, brought together by an outbreak of bubonic plague.
They are both part of the fabric of corporate Sydney and a coming together would be a suitable continuation of history. It’s also unlikely to happen, at least as projected in Soul Patts’ $3 billion offer.
As Jack Derwin wrote today, analysts are cool on Soul Patts' cleverly structured $3 billion bid for Perpetual, which has already been rejected out of hand. But the market reaction today in both companies' shares suggests there is more to come in this story.
