Australia's Abacus Storage King gets $1.43 billion sweetened offer, shares jump
The new offer price of A$1.65 per share represents a premium of 11.9% to the stock's last close. The earlier offer of A$1.47 per share made in mid-May had valued the company at A$1.93 billion.
Shares of the Sydney-based company climbed as much as 7.1% to A$1.580, their highest level since June 23, while the broader benchmark index (.AXJO), opens new tab was largely unchanged, as of 0130 GMT.
Abacus Storage's independent board committee said it would grant the consortium six weeks for due diligence to see if a binding deal could be agreed.
The consortium consists of South African billionaire Nathan Kirsh's family office, Ki Corp, and U.S.-listed Public Storage (PSA.N), opens new tab.
"A further revised offer above net tangible assets per share may be necessary to convince minority shareholders to agree to the deal," analysts at Citi said in a note.
Net tangible assets represent the value of a company's physical assets minus liabilities.
"There is no certainty that the parties will be able to agree terms to implement the revised proposal," Abacus said in a statement.
($1 = 1.5223 Australian dollars)
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