Australia's Insignia Financial gets $1.7 billion takeover offer from Bain Capital; shares rise

By Aaditya GovindRao

(Reuters) -Australia's Insignia Financial said on Friday it has received a non-binding takeover all-cash proposal from private equity Bain Capital, valuing the 178-year-old wealth manager at A$2.67 billion ($1.70 billion), in another bid that represents growing interest in the country's investment managers.

Shares in Insignia rose as much as 9.6% to A$3.725 by 0043 GMT, their highest since mid-January, 2023. That made it one of the top gainers on the benchmark index, which was down 0.6%.

Under the offer, Insignia shareholders will receive A$4.00 per share, which represents a 17.6% premium to the stock's closing price of A$3.40 on Thursday.

The stock shot up more than 10% in the last 10 minutes of trade settlements on Thursday following local media reports about the offer.

Founded in 1846, Insignia provides financial advice and asset management services. It had A$319.6 billion worth of funds under management and administration at the end of September.

The company's board is considering the proposal to assess whether to engage with Bain, it said.

Brian Freitas, founder at Periscope Analytics, called Bain's offer "opportunistic," citing Insignia stock's underperformance relative to its peers over the past two years.

The offer "could see pushback from Insignia's board," Freitas said in a note on research platform Smartkarma.

In August, the Melbourne-based company had swung to a full-year statutory net loss after tax, and paused its dividend payments.

Australian investment managers have received major interest by bidders this year, as evidenced by Bain-rival KKR & Co's A$2.18 billion deal to buy Insignia-peer Perpetual's wealth management and corporate trust businesses in May.

In September, Platinum Asset Management had also received an A$616.5 million bid from hedge fund Regal Partners, which ultimately fell through.

"Given the recent interest in Australian investment/wealth managers, we could see competing offers emerge," Freitas added.

Bain Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

($1 = 1.5711 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)