Takeover bid for Link Group sends share price soaring

Shares in financial services company Link Administration Holdings (ASX: LNK) have surged upon reporting to the market this morning that they have received a takeover bid, valuing Link shares at $5.20 each, a 30.3% premium on their $3.99 Friday close price.

The conditional offer has been put together by a consortium comprising of Pacific Equity Partners, Carlyle Group and their affiliates, which are seeking to acquire 100% of Link Group, most commonly known as one of the largest share registry operators in the world.

Perpetual, which holds 9.65% of Link Group, has confirmed they will be voting in favour of the takeover.

With this non-binding indicative proposal being the first news to Link shareholders, the Company has advised its shareholders not to take any action in response to the proposal whilst Macquarie Capital and UBS have been engaged as financial advisers.

Link Group and Pacific Equity Partners are very well acquainted with PEP having floated Link on the ASX in 2015 at $6.37 per share before they sold their shares less than 12 months after listing, at $8.38.

Prior to the bid, Link was trading with a market capitalisation of $2.12 billion with the takeover bid valuing the Company at $2.76 billion.

Through FY20, Link reported $1.23 billion in revenue which was down on the $1.4b the year prior. Earnings also took a hit with $294m EBITDA down from $395m.

LNK shares promptly opened at $5.05, a rise of 26.5% on their previous close.