etrade denies takeover bid $1.10

Earlier today etrade denied that there was any substance to this article...that is to say...no takeover plans as of today but, then tomorrow may be a different story.

E*Trade bids $1.10 a share

By HEATH ASTON

March 10, 2005

ONLINE stockbroker E*Trade is preparing to launch a tilt for takeover target and rival internet broking service JDV.


JDV provides technology for Westpac's internet share trading.

Market sources said E*Trade will trump Melbourne wealth management technology outfit IWL with a $1.10 per share offer, maybe in the next few days.


IWL, the WA company that bought Rene Rivkin's former stockbroking business Avcol for $10 million from Rivkin Financial Services earlier in the year, has offered one of its shares for each JDV share.


That values JDV, spun out of well-known WA stockbroking firm Hartleys, at $96 million or about $1 a share.






The lure of JDV is that its main business is providing the online trading platform for Westpac bank and its subsidiary BT.


The online broking industry is mushrooming as retail investors turn from a soggy real estate market to a racing equity market.


Last year, 600,000 Australians became first time investors in shares.


Many of them did that on tailored websites like Commsec, E*Trade and Sanford, as well as all of the sites run by all the other major wealth managers and the major banks.


Commsec at present has more than 1.1 million customers who can buy and sell shares from $20 a trade.


That has posed a threat to traditional stockbrokers and fund managers, which have seen their share of a growing market shrink.


The main obstacle to either E*Trade or IWL nabbing JDV is convincing major shareholders Westpac and Royal Bank of Canada to sell.


Each bank has a 28.7 per cent stake in JDV, leaving just 42.5 per cent.


IWL boss Otto Buttula yesterday told The Daily Telegraph he was confident his bid would be successful.


"We spoke to (Westpac) subsequent to the bid . . . given that it is such a large part of that business we wouldn't have made an offer if we hadn't got some form of comfort from Westpac but our offer is still subject to them approving change of control," he said.


After the release of its bidder's statement last week, IWL's offer will open in late March and run for a month.


IWL already has a 19.99 per cent strategic stake in JDV after buying the shares of former Hartleys' executive Andrew Frazer and small-cap manager S G Hiscock & Co.


JDV shares closed at $1.03, while shares in IWL were up 3c at $3.02.


However, E*Trade closed steady at $1.85 yesterday.