By Roushni Nair and Aaditya GovindRao
(Reuters) -Australia’s Bapcor Ltd confirmed on Tuesday that it had received a proposal from private equity firm Bain Capital to buy the automotive parts retailer in a deal that valued its equity at A$1.83 billion ($1.21 billion).
Bapcor shareholders will receive A$5.4 in cash per share under the terms of the non-binding indicative proposal, representing a premium of 23.9% to the stock’s last close of A$4.36 on June 7.
Shares of Bapcor advanced as much as 14.9% to A$5.010 by 0209 GMT and were the top gainers on the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which was trading down 1.4%.
The offer comes at a time when the Australia-headquartered firm is struggling to improve its performance amid challenging trading conditions and senior management exodus.
Its shares have declined 21% so far this year and have recently been trading at lows last seen in April 2020.
Bapcor in May flagged challenging trading conditions for retail performance and concerns around competitive pricing resulting in volume and margin pressures amid higher costs.
The company then warned that profits in the second half of 2024 would be lower than the first half. In late April, Bapcor said Paul Dumbrell would not join the company as its chief executive.
“We are not surprised by Bain’s bid given we see Bapcor as a good business, operating in a favourable industry,” analysts at brokerage Citi said in a note.
“However, we believe it comes at an opportunistic time where governance and management has been suboptimal, noting the company is yet to find a permanent CEO and new chair”, the analysts added.
The announcement came after the Australian Financial Review reported earlier this week about the proposal from Bain Capital for Bapcor.
“The board cautions that at this time there is no guarantee that the indicative proposal put forward by Bain Capital will result in a binding offer or that any transaction will eventuate,” Bapcor said in an exchange filing.
Bapcor said the offer was received after market close on Friday.
($1 = 1.5135 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Roushni Nair and Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Subhranshu Sahu)
