Navitas Limited (ASX: NVT) is one step closer to being acquired by a private equity-led consortium after the company's shareholders approved the BGH Capital proposal to acquire all issued Navitas shares, by way of a scheme of arrangement.
What did Navitas announce yesterday?
Navitas said the resolutions to approve the scheme were approved by the requisite majorities of Navitas shareholders at the General Scheme Meeting and the Consortium Shareholders Scheme Meeting.
Navitas will now seek approval for the deal from the Supreme Court of Western Australia at a hearing scheduled for Friday 21 June 2019.
Should Navitas receive the Court's approval, the company intends to lodge the orders of the Court with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) next Monday, 24 June 2019, with the scheme becoming effective from this date.
If this occurs, Navitas shares will be suspended from trading with effect from the close of ASX trading on Monday 24 June.
What did the shareholders agree to?
If the scheme becomes effective, Navitas shareholders will receive a cash payment of $5.825 per share, with company share's closing yesterday's trade 0.16% higher at $5.80 per share.
The Navitas share price has remained largely unchanged since mid-March when the Navitas Board of Directors unanimously recommended the BGH proposal at $5.825 per share price, and I wouldn't expect to see much change provided the company receives its desired court approval.
The takeover offer values Navitas' equity at approximately $2.1 billion, which represents a 34% premium to the $4.35 closing price on 9 October 2018, being the trading day prior to Navitas announcing it had received the first indicative proposal.
The company's share price surged nearly 22% to $5.30 per share on 10 October 2018 after announcing that it had received an unsolicited, preliminary, conditional and non-binding proposal from the consortium led by private equity firm BGH Capital and AustralianSuper.
Overall, the Navitas deal could be set to draw to a close on Monday, closing out one of the biggest domestic M&A deals that has been talked about for the last 12–18 months.
With the Reserve Bank of Australia cutting interest rates by 0.25% (and potentially one more cut to come later this year), this may not be the last of big-name deals we see in 2019.
