Pacific Consortium the special vehicle of London private equity firm Macquarie Group and New York hedge fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) will no longer pursue its AUS $7.3 billion (£4.5 billion) acquisition of Australian gambling operator Tatts Group.
The deal withdrawal follows Tatts’ board decision not to review Pacific’s latest takeover bid of $4.21-per-share combined with an investor ‘dividends add-on’ which the investment firm claimed to offer better value than the AUS $11 billion combined merger with Tabcorp Holdings.
Pacific stated that it was surprised by Tatts board decision not to review the offer made, further detailing that there was “no legal impediment” deterring governance from undertaking due diligence on its offer.
Furthermore, Australian business news sources have reported that Tatts major shareholder Perpetual had pushed Tatts governance for a review of options, following Pacific’s second deal offer.
Releasing a statement Tatts governance commented on its decision “Tatts’ board has determined that the revised indicative proposal is not a superior offer and cannot reasonably be expected to result in a superior proposal when compared to the proposed Tabcorp merger. In these circumstances, Tatts is unable to provide due diligence or engage with the Pacific Consortium”.
Having agreed merger terms last November 2016 to form Australia’s outright leading betting firm, Tatts and Tabcorp governance have been slowed down by Australian competition authorities and market regulators.
