We all need to realise that the "value" of NEA's North American business has increased by more than 10% since the bid date, based purely on the change in exchange rates.
When the bid was announced on 15 August, the exchange rate was 0.711636 USD/AUD. It has since dropped by around 10.8% to 0.635283 and falling.
North American ACV in AUD at the current exchange rate is conservatively estimated by my long-standing and very accurate model to be $118M as at 30 December 2022 (around the time the deal may close). This compares with only around $77M for ANZ. As NA is growing very much faster than ANZ, and is already over 50% bigger than ANZ (as at 30 Dec 2022), I think it reasonable as an investor to conclude that:
If the deal was good value on 15 August (and I strongly believe it was undervalued then), it is no longer good value. The offer price should be increased by around 8% to take into account only the changes in exchange rates. That equates to around $2.27.
I suggest we all take this into account when talking to NEA or voting on the deal.
NEA Price at posting:
$1.99 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held