Sell-side advisers Credit Suisse (and Nomura) have mailed out decks detailing the business’s rollercoaster ride over the past few years, while giving suitors until early May to lob indicative bids.
The cinema chain was pulling in a whopping $593 million annual revenue when COVID-19 hit it on the nose and sent it spiralling to $211 million for 2020. Hoyts’ fortunes changed direction once again as lockdowns lifted, hitting $550 million last year and heading higher this year.
They are enticing numbers, and should pull a crowd. But any serious suitor would be testing Hoyts’ forecasts ($130 million EBITDA for 2023, for example) and checking if it’s got any hangover from its loss-making years in the pandemic.
Elsewhere, it was slow going in deals on the Easter weekend. Fundies seem to have been spared calls from investment banks sounding for raisings or acquisitions.
But we did spot some smoke coming out of Blackmores, which is understood to have landed on the radar of a new strategic type. That’s less than three months after Street Talk spotted a Japanese player (understood to be Asahi) sniff around the company but beat a retreat on price.
Credit Suisse and Nomura have begun approaching private equity firms for what could be a $1 billion sale, with first round bids due in the first week of May.
The discussions did not proceed partly because there were fears about relations with China and concerns about the high price needed to be paid for the company.
Turns out Australian Clinical Labs’ eccentric bid for bigger rival Healius has not been the only burning item on PE investor Crescent Capital’s to-do list.
It’s hiring season at Jefferies’ local outpost, which has just poached two senior bankers from Macquarie to bolster its Australian ECM and industrials ranks.
Brookfield and PEP’s smart metres play Intellihub is set to return from its debt capital markets trip with $500 million in tow, after getting a surprise leg-up from rival Vector Metering’s recent troubles.
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