Atlas Iron Limited (AGO):
Atlas Iron's board is set to recommend investors accept an all-scrip offer from fellow Perth-based miner Mineral Resources. Street Talk understands the two companies were locked in takeover talks across the weekend and, while the situation was unresolved as at Sunday night, both sides of the transaction were hopeful to have a deal signed and ready to be announced as early as Monday morning. The de al is expected to be done via a scheme of arrangement. The all-scrip offer is believed to be at a 40 per cent to 50 per cent premium to Atlas Iron's last close, based on Mineral Resources' recent trading, and would need to be approved by Atlas Iron's shareholders. Atlas Iron's board is expected to tell shareholders to vote in favour of the transaction, in the absence of a higher offer.
MG Unit Trust (MGC):
A new class action has been launched against former dairy cooperative Murray Goulburn alleging its $500 million float prospectus in 2015 misled investors with overly-rosy profit forecasts that were never achievable. The Slater and Gordon class action, which is open to all holders of units in Murray Goulburn’s listed entity (MGC), also alleges multiple breaches by MG of its ASX continuous disclosure obligations and a failure to timely report its impending 2015-16 financial year profit downgrade prior to its devastating farmgate milk price crash on April 27, 2016. The class action will proceed despite the resounding vote yesterday by Murray Goulburn’s farmer-owners to sell the 67-year old financially-embattled cooperative to private Canadian dairy company Saputo for $1.31 billion. Saputo intends to buy all ordinary shares in the co -operative from its farmer-suppliers, as well as all listed units owned by investors, and eventually delist the unit trust. But $200m from the Saputo sale proceeds will be retained in a shell of Murray Goulburn — separate to its now-sold nine processing factories — for pending legal actions such as the latest Slater and Gordon claim.
National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB):
The National Australia Bank is known to be in the early stages of planning a potential divestment of its wealth management operation, and it has emerged that its broking house JBWere is central to the discussions. It is understood that NAB’s preference is an initial public offering of its wealth management arm, which could have a market value of about $6 billion. This would include JBWere. The other option is a sale of the wealth operations to Nippon Life, which bought NAB’s life insurance arm in 2016 for $2.4bn. Should the deal with Nippon Life proceed, it is thought JBWere will be retained by the bank. The thinking is that the JBWere business alone is worth about $100m.
(Source: AIMS)
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