Daily Brief Australia: Whispir Ltd, SiteMinder, Amaero International Ltd, Recce Ltd and more

• On the 6 November, cloud communication outfit Whispir (WSP AU)  announced a A$0.46/share unconditional Offer, in cash, from mobile messaging software play Soprano Design.
• The Offer price was a 92% premium to Whispir’s recent private placement, and a 60% premium to the undisturbed price. Whispir rejected the Offer.
• Pendula subsequently emerged with a A$0.57/share NBIO. Soprano “countered” with A$0.52/share. Pendula upped its indicative Offer to A$0.60/share. An independent expert’s fair value is between A$0.486/share-A$0.565/share.

• In this insight, we take a look at the potential index changes for ASX 300, 200, 100, 50, and 20 in the run-up to the March 2024 index review.
• I expect one change for ASX 20, one change for ASX 100, and four changes for ASX 200 during the March 2024 index rebal event.
• Separately, there could also be one intra-review change for ASX 200 in February 2024.

• Amaero International Ltd (ASX:3DA) is a global specialist in advanced materials manufacturing for the defence, aerospace, and other industrial sectors.
• The company is developing a 1,000+-tonne-a-year critical metals alloy powder manufacturing facility in Tennessee, USA with its initial focus on producing refractory alloy powder, C103, a critical metal powder used in hypersonics weaponry.
• On December 19, the company provided an update to investors on its progress to date this month with several milestones tracking ahead of schedule. 

Recce recently reported that the Australian government has committed to providing up to A$55m in future cash rebates to reimburse upcoming R&D expenditure directed towards the company’s proprietary synthetic anti-infective programmes to June 2025. Notably, this binding agreement with the Australian government’s Department of Industry, Science and Resources (AusIndustry) extends the rebate programme that customarily reimburses 43.5% of eligible R&D expenditures incurred within Australia, to cover the anti-infective R&D activities Recce undertakes anywhere in the world. We view this as key given our expectation that US and global clinical trials will be needed to maximise the commercial potential of Recce’s products, notably lead candidate RECCE® 327 (R327). While our model already assumed the Australian government would reimburse 43.5% of Recce’s overseas R&D costs, there was a minor degree of uncertainty on whether this would be the case. Hence, the signing of this binding commitment with AusIndustry helps de-risk future funding needs for Recce as it advances its anti-infective programmes, notably R327 in sepsis/urosepsis and in complicated urinary tract infection (UTIs).