NRW shows recent MACA interestThiess may face competition in its quest to buy MACA. Picture: SuppliedBRIDGET CARTERDATAROOM EDITORAN HOUR AGO AUGUST 18, 2022It turns out Thiess isn’t the only party that has shown interest in MACA of late.
There is talk in the market that NRW Holdings has recently been running the ruler over the business.DataRoom understands that NRW’s interest ramped up at the beginning of this month, and given it has yet to make a move on the company, some believe that it may have gone cold on MACA.Any group looking to make a rival approach typically waits until a bidder’s statement has been released, and MACA released this from Thiess to the market on August 11.
Thiess emerged with a buyout proposal for MACA on July 26 after DataRoom first reported a year ago that the pair were in talks about a tie-up.Thiess offered $1.025 per share, valuing MACA at $350m excluding debt, which at the time was a 28.1 per cent premium to MACA’s last closing share price.
MACA’s shares are now trading at $1.The offer has been given support by MACA’s board.MACA releases its results on August 22.On Thursday (August 18), NRW reported a 79.4 per cent lift in its net profit to $97.4m for the year to June 30 as its order book grew to $5.2bn.
This was despite staff shortages, higher costs, severe weather events and fewer projects in civil construction, with some public infrastructure and mining clients deferring projects due to market conditions.
But this was more than offset by higher demand for mining equipment, technology and services on the back of booming demand for battery minerals.NRW has a $1bn market value, with shares soaring almost 5 per cent on Thursday’s result and it also has low debt levels at 11 per cent.It would potentially tap the market to embark on a MACA acquisition.
Consolidation has been on the cards in the services sector for some time, as groups look to consolidate what is typically a low margin sector that involves large amounts of capital spending and at a time it is largely out of favour with equity investors for these reasons.
MACA is one of Australia’s leading diversified contracting groups, with operations spanning across Australia and internationally and provides mining, crushing, civil construction, infrastructure and mineral processing services.NRW also provides contract services to the resources and infrastructure sectors with operations throughout the country.
It purchased BGC Contracting in 2019.Macquarie Capital, Lisle Group and Squire Payton Boggs are advising Thiess, while advising MACA is Salient Corporate and Thomson Greer.
MLD Price at posting:
$1.01 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
