Daily Brief Australia: Silk Laser Australia, Respiri Ltd and more

• Silk Laser Australia (SLA AU) disclosed a non-binding indicative offer from EC Healthcare (2138 HK) at A$3.35 per share, a 6.3% premium to Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU)’s offer of A$3.15.
• The Board has concluded that EC Healthcare’s offer is superior. Wesfarmers has matching rights which expire on 30 May. 
• Wesfarmers has the balance sheet and synergies to bump its offer. However, it is uncertain if EC Healthcare can engage in a bidding war due to a modest balance sheet.

• Back on the 19 April,  Silk Laser Australia (SLA AU), an operator of specialist clinic networks across Australia, announced a $3.15/share NBIO from Wesfarmers Ltd (WES AU).
• Wesfarmers was granted 30 business days to undertake due diligence on an exclusive basis. Ahead of that expiry, EC Healthcare (2138 HK) has crashed the party with a $3.35/share NBIO.
• Silk’s board considers ECH’s proposal to be superior. Wesfarmers has five business days to respond. I expect they will. 

In a strategic push of its US commercialisation strategy, Respiri has announced the proposed acquisition of Access Managed Services, its US remote patient monitoring (RPM) and chronic care management partner, for a cash consideration of up to US$3m (A$4.5m). We expect the acquisition to afford Respiri greater oversight of operations and sales and marketing efforts, potentially reducing sales cycles and expediting patient onboarding. The acquisition will also result in the RPM recurring revenue increasing to US$70–100 from US$10–20 per patient, although we note Respiri will cease to recognise revenue from device sales and operating expenses will likely trend higher. Management now guides for break-even to be achieved at 9,000 patients (by end CY24) vs 30,000–40,000 patients previously. The acquisition will be funded by a A$6.5m capital raise, including A$4.5m in convertible notes and a A$2m equity offer. We will update our model and estimates following the fund-raise and deal closure.