Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd Apr 25, 2021
One of the long waits in Australian M&A is just about over.Six months after Pacific Equity Partners and The Carlyle Group put Link Group in play, the company is set to find out what buyers are willing to pay for arguably its most contentious asset, property settlements platform PEXA. Investment banks Macquarie Capital and UBS will field bids for Link’s 44 per cent stake in PEXA on Monday.The KKR/Domain Group pair is expected to lob an offer, as well is Swiss private markets group Partners Group, Macquarie’s own MIRA and another infrastructure fund manager or two that have been flying below the radar.While the bids for Link’s 44 per cent shareholding are indicative only, the stakes are higher than usual. It will be the first time an outside investor has put a value on PEXA in 2½ years, and could prompt PEXA’s two other shareholders to pile into the auction for round two.
Of course, the indicative bids will also give Link, PEXA and the swarm of bankers tending to both a better read on how likely it is that PEXA could be floated on the ASX in the middle of this year. Initial public offering preparations are underway and market sounding is due to coincide with second round bids in coming months.So while the PEXA auction and IPO are at stake, there’s another potential deal on the line. It’s easy to forget Link is still subject to PEP/Carlyle’s bid, which is what sparked the PEXA auction in the first place.The last update Link gave shareholders about the PEP/Carlyle talks was in February. “PEP/Carlyle engagement remains active”, was all it could muster in a 47-page investor presentation, lodged four months after the suitor was granted a non-exclusive look at the books at $5.40 a share (or $3.80 ex-PEXA).
