RE: Alternative to offer9 Jan 2025 11:04
i agree decay. an offer of 125p is a slap in the face, especially for lths who haven't averaged down. pe are c@nts, and never anything less. there is zero doubt that kestrel are involved with these bids. my biggest annoyance is i think the accepted bid will be one that satisfies kestrel and other funds interests in the roll-over. it's not a straight up cash offer, and no doubt kestrel and others have said they're fine with it providing they maintain (or even improve) their % ownership in the unlisted entity. because of this i think the 125p is the lesser likely element to be improved by a decent margin.
edison input (f'all) points to an ev:ebitda of 5.2 and pe of 7.1 on 2023 numbers. these are shockingly low, by any standards. the pe multiple will also go down providing they hit revised guidance. the ev:ebitda will likely stay around the mid 5's due to the debt they took on with the shinez ****show. for any t/o to be of a semi-reasonable value it should be looking at a minimum 40% higher i.e. ev:ebitda of circa 7.5x and pe around 10. whoever wins the bid can effectively pay down debt from what is being put toward bbs and dividends in just over 3 years, and that's without any further growth.
i do believe we'll get an improved offer, but imagine the cash option will be maybe 10% higher from current offerors, so 135-140p. this would allow most lths to exit with a profit (although small), and make people believe it was a good deal versus 125p. best chance of getting +150p is for another bidder to enter the fray once the company and major holders have indicated whether they're willing to accept 125p (or slightly higher). once they do this it's hard for them to row back on +150p.
anything below 150p is a steal. having said that i'd be happy with +135p at the moment. market is getting f@cked from all sides and having a big slug of cash at the ready could yield some very good returns in time (providing one times things well).
hopefully the company is pushing for improved offers on the pathetically low 125p. the fact these offers are identical says the company has told them about one another, or they are acting in concert. ridiculous to think they can land on the exact same numbers. aimho gla