if $550m is what they paid, then selling them for $775m...

if $550m is what they paid, then selling them for $775m equivalent in this market is an excellent outcome. not sure why then ABN valued them at $1.5bn.

put it another way.

the deal was based on an EBITDA multiple of 14.1x

ABC's EBITDA for FY07 was $314.5m

using this multiple for the entire company gives an enterprise value of $4.434bn at 14.1x

now ABC's debt is about $1.8bn

which values the equity at $2.6bn

ABC has 470m shares on issue - which equates to a share price of $5.53 using this transaction multiple.

and given the australian assets are of better quality than the US ones, they may even fetch a higher multiple than 14.1x

in light of this, my view on ABC is very positive. sp should rally hard tomorrow, back to $4