Tanarra Capital rejects 'false' media report about Insignia Financial sale

10:52am yesterday

The news: Alternative asset firm Tanarra Capital has rejected a report it is supporting Bain Capital's bid for ASX-listed financial services company Insignia Financial — four days after the Boston private investment firm first lobbed its proposal.

In a statement provided to Capital Brief, the fund led by John Wylie said the story, published in The Australian's column Data Room late on Monday, was "categorically false".

"Tanarra has not had any discussions with Bain Capital regarding its indicative and conditional proposal for Insignia, nor encouraged them in any way," Tanarra said.

The numbers: On Friday, Insignia told the market it had received a “confidential, preliminary, non-binding and indicative” proposal from Bain.

The Boston-based private investment firm had offered $4 a share for the company, a 30% premium to its previous closing price.

Tanarra, which owns 15.2% of Insignia, is considered key to the success or failure of the prospective sale.

Insignia shares fell around 1% in early trading on Tuesday before recovering to trade at $2.58 per share.

The context: Insignia which manages around $230 billion is in the midst of a major turnaround strategy, spearheaded by chief executive Scott Hartley.

Rather than looking for a sale Tanarra, led by former banker John Wylie, threw its support behind Insignia's turnaround campaign.

“We regard the Bain proposal as highly opportunistic. We want the Insignia management team to remain focused on the business improvement plan they are in the early stages of delivering," Tanarra said.

Citing “sources”, the column suggested Wylie, a former banker, had solicited Bain's bid. But Tanarra said that it provided “no comment” prior to the publication of the article.

What they said: “For future reference, we will not be commenting on any further articles that may appear in the Data Room column on this situation,” the company said.

The source: Tanarra Statement