European Event-Driven Analyst

Jesus Rodriguez Aguilar

Jesús is an Insight Provider (Event-driven) on the Smartkarma network, where he looks across sectors at opportunities arising from securities mispricing (both credit and equity), share classes, bid announcements, prospective bids, and special situations. He has served as Economic and Business Advisor at the Spanish Congress in Madrid. Prior to that, he has worked in the City of London: as a Credit Analyst at Bloomberg; Event-driven associate at former boutique European Research; and doubled as Special Situations and Equity-linked VP (convertible bonds) at Merrill Lynch. Jesús has an MBA from the London Business School, a BA (Hons.) degree in Economics from the Complutense University in Madrid, and a BA (Hons.) in Law from U.N.E.D., also in Madrid.

I Squared/FirstGroup: Looming PUSU Deadline

Kinetic & Globalvia/Go-Ahead: Recommended Offer

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>On 16 August, I Squared confirmed it did not intend to make an offer for FirstGroup thus will now be precluded from bidding for six months.</li>
<li>The 15 August offer implied almost no premium for the core business, significant value not reflected, and a difficult to grasp structure for most investors, in my view.</li>
<li>A SOTP approach gives a fair value of 183.4p. The board seems right in its refusal. Other bidders may appear or I Squared may return to the negotiating table. Long.</li>
</ul>


On 16 August, I Squared confirmed it did not intend to make an offer for FirstGroup thus will now be precluded from bidding for six months.
The 15 August offer implied almost no premium for the core business, significant value not reflected, and a difficult to grasp structure for most investors, in my view.
A SOTP approach gives a fair value of 183.4p. The board seems right in its refusal. Other bidders may appear or I Squared may return to the negotiating table. Long.


I Squared/FirstGroup: Why Have the Negotiations Ended?

Firstgroup PLC

I Squared/FirstGroup: Why Have the Negotiations Ended?