Australia's Perpetual snubs $1.69 billion takeover offer from EQT over valuation

July 1 (Reuters) - Australia's Perpetual ‌said on ​Wednesday ​it had rejected a non-binding takeover proposal from Swedish private equity firm EQT AB that values the ‌financial services provider at A$2.45 billion ($1.69 billion).

As part of ⁠the proposal, EQT offered to buy all the shares for A$21.64 apiece ‌in cash, a near 40% ‌premium to Perpetual's closing price on Tuesday.

The Sydney-headquartered firm's shares jumped as much as about 17% to A$18.13 on Wednesday ​before being placed on a trading halt ahead of the announcement.

"The indicative proposal was highly conditional and did not ⁠adequately represent fair value for Perpetual shareholders in the context of a change of ​control transaction," the company said in a filing to the exchange after market hours.

EQT did not ​immediately respond to a Reuters request ‌for comment.

Earlier this year, Perpetual unveiled plans to divest its wealth management arm to U.S. private ⁠equity firm Bain Capital for an upfront cash payment of A$500 million.

This was part of an earlier A$2.18 billion deal with private equity ⁠group KKR in 2024, which later fell through and the Australian firm ​decided to pursue a separate sale of the business.

Founded in 1886, the investment manager has been the target of various takeovers over the years.

In ‌2022, it rejected a A$1.7 billion takeover bid from a consortium including portfolio manager Regal Partners, ‌and the next year it turned down a A$3.1 billion ⁠offer from its largest shareholder, ‌Washington H Soul Pattinson.

($1 = ​1.4516 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Harikrishnan Nair and Sonia ‌Cheema)

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