It's an inducement to try to get shareholders to accept the offer. They are just saying "if one of the defeating conditions (ie an excuse for Thiess not to proceed with the takeover) is causing you (as a shareholder) concern, and this is stopping you from accepting our offer, then don't worry. What we're going to do is waive all remaining defeating conditions if we get 50% acceptance of our offer by 23 September".
In my words - "bid deal".
Our directors have let us down badly by (a) accepting a not-very-impressive offer and (b) not informing us about how much of our $57m in franking credits they plan on handing over to Thiess. As a result, the uptake of this offer is low and slow.
I can't give advice, but I won't be accepting the offer until the level of franked dividend has been clarified by our directors (and if its not high enough, I won't be accepting it, period). This is a material term of the offer and could change its value by up to 20%, without requiring Thiess to increase its acquisition price. The fact that our directors have accepted the offer without this information makes me highly suspicious that they are being paid inducements by Thiess to assist it to get this deal over the line at the lowest possible value. Bonuses and new jobs for our directors and management could easily be worth more than 20% of the value of their shareholdings, which is why I suspect they don't care about the dividend. None of the rest of us will be getting golden handshakes or fat new employment contracts, which is why we should be holding out for the franked dividend.
Also, Thiess hasn't said that their offer is a "final" one. They don't have to raise their offer before declaring it a final offer, but often an acquirer will do so. Thiess would probably like to threaten us with a "this is our final offer" announcement, but if they do so, they aren't allowed to increase it. This makes them vulnerable to a new, improved offer from NRW or some other acquirer.
The "intention to waive conditions" is a rather pathetic inducement. Paying a franked dividend would be a better one
MLD Price at posting:
$1.07 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
