Daily Brief Australia: Atlas Arteria, Ramsay Health Care and more

In today’s briefing:

Atlas Arteria Placement – How to Lose Friends and Alienate Your Largest Shareholder
Atlas Arteria (ALX AU): Acquisition, ANREO & ASX50 Inclusion
Ramsay’s Bait-And-Switch KKR Offer Heads for the Exit

Atlas Arteria Placement – How to Lose Friends and Alienate Your Largest Shareholder

Atlas Arteria (ALX) aims to raise around US$2bn (A$3bn) via a non-renounceable entitlement offer to fund the purchase of its majority interest in Chicago Skyway.
Over the past few months, ALX has garnered interest from IFM which has increased its stake to 19.99%. IFM had publicly opposed this acquisition.
In this note, we will talk about the deal dynamic and run the deal through our ECM framework.

Atlas Arteria (ALX AU) is acquiring 66.67% in Skyway Concession Company LLC, the concessionaire of the Chicago Skyway for an equity value of US$2.013bn (A$3.098bn).
The acquisition will be funded by a fully underwritten 1:1.95 ANREO to raise A$3.098bn. The offer price of A$6.3/share is a 13.7% discount to TERP and 19.3% discount to last.
The increase in market cap could result in Atlas Arteria (ALX AU) being added to the S&P/ASX 50 Index at the December rebalance.

KKR cannot improve the terms of its offer but left the door open by stating that a deal can be quickly closed if the Board is willing to reset expectations.
The transaction is stuck in an impasse as Ramsay Health Care (RHC AU) will not recommend KKR’s offer until it is improved, and KKR says it cannot improve terms.
The peers’ shares have been, on average, flat since the undisturbed date. The shares are trading slightly below the undisturbed price and are attractive on fundamentals.

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