Australia's Soul Patts to takeover building products affiliate Brickworks in $9 billion merger
Australian investment company Washington H Soul Pattinson will buy out its building products affiliate Brickworks in a deal valuing the latter at A$4.62 billion ($3 billion), the companies said on Monday.
The deal would merge the companies, and a new Australia-listed firm would be established with an expected valuation of A$14 billion ($9 billion).
Stockholders in Washington H Soul Pattinson would own 72% of the newly formed company. Holders of Brickworks would own 19% while the remainder would be offered to new shareholders.
Soul Patts has a 43% shareholding in Brickworks and Brickworks owns 26% of Soul Patts.
The new entity has received commitments worth A$550 million in shares, fully underwritten by Aitken Mount Capital.
Soul Patts is offering an implied value of A$30.28 for every Brickworks share, a 10.1% premium to the stock's last close.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Last minute data disappointment lowers GDP growth hopes
Forecasters have revised down their predictions for Australia's economic growth, which could show the weakest start to a year in decades, outside of COVID. Partial indicators released in recent days have diminished optimism of the economy's vitality before the Australian Bureau of Statistics releases national accounts figures on Wednesday. The anticipated economic recovery driven by falling interest rates, moderating inflation and recovering disposable income has not materialised as expected. New public demand declined 0.4 per cent over the quarter and will shave 0.1 percentage points off GDP growth in March, the ABS reported on Tuesday. Alongside weaker than expected household spending, business investment and mining exploration, Westpac pared back its prediction for GDP growth to 0.1 per cent - the slowest March quarter result, outside of COVID, since the 1990/91 recession. That would put the annual growth rate at 1.2 per cent. Westpac economists said there was even a small risk for a minor decline in output over the quarter. Negative effects from Tropical Cyclone Alfred and flooding in Queensland as well as a slowdown in public demand highlighted the downside risks to growth. "While some of the weakness reflects the direct and indirect (or 'confidence'-related) impacts of the bad weather events, it is undoubtedly the case that underlying growth remains sluggish," they said. "Without a pickup in private demand, the shaky handover from the public sector could result in a period of below par economic growth." While the figures won't show the worst effects of global uncertainty on consumer demand, given Donald Trump's main tariff announcement wasn't until April 2, trade barriers will continue to weigh on economic growth into the future. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development downgraded its forecast for Australia's GDP growth from 1.9 per cent to 1.8 per cent in 2025. But the outlook is rosier in 2025, with economic growth expected to accelerate to 2.2 per cent as interest rates continue to fall and disposable incomes recover. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the national accounts would show an Australian economy resilient in the face of substantial headwinds at home and abroad. "Our economy has been hit by natural disasters and we're not immune to global volatility, but the progress Australians have made together means we are well placed and well prepared to face this uncertainty," he said. CBA economists also downgraded their Mach quarter GDP forecasts following Tuesday's data dump but still expect growth of 0.3 per cent, while ANZ and NAB revised down their predictions to a 0.2 per cent rise. JP Morgan left its growth prediction unchanged at 0.3 per cent while Japanese investment bank Nomura lowered its estimate to 0.1 per cent. It's unlikely GDP growth will meet the Reserve Bank's forecast of 0.5 per cent, published just over two weeks ago in its May Statement on Monetary Policy. Rates markets imply a 78 per cent chance for the RBA to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points at its next meeting in July, with two more cuts expected by Christmas.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Victoria's Secret Reveals Preliminary Q1 Results, but Delays Full Report Following ‘Security Incident'
Victoria's Secret & Co. got its websites back up and running, but needs to huddle with tech support some more before reporting its official first-quarter results. The lingerie giant's websites went dark for three days last week as it wrestled with a 'security incident involving information technology systems.' More from WWD Victoria's Secret Goes Dark and Stays Dark in Security Incident Together Group Acquires 'Experiential' Agency Obo Victoria's Secret Adopts Poison Pill to Keep Brett Blundy's BBRC at Bay Victoria's Secret detected the problem on May 24 and said it 'immediately enacted its response protocols to attempt to contain and eradicate unauthorized network access, and third-party experts were engaged.' Its corporate systems, including some functions in stores and e-commerce sites, were shut down on May 26. The e-commerce sites were back up on May 29, but the company is still working to restore full access to the corporate system. The incident did not materially disrupt operations, according to the company. While the tech trip up happened during the second quarter, Victoria's Secret postponed its first-quarter financial update, which was scheduled for Thursday. 'The restoration process has prevented employees from accessing certain systems and information needed to support the company's release of its financial results for the first quarter,' the firm said. Earnings will be released at a later time, but the company gave investors a preview with preliminary results that were near or above the high-end of its previous guidance. First-quarter sales came in at $1.35 billion, down from $1.36 billion a year ago, but ahead of the $1.3 billion to $1.33 billion the company forecast. Adjusted operating income totaled $32 million, down from $40 million a year earlier, but ahead of the $10 million to $30 million forecast. The question now is how much the incident will weigh on the second quarter. 'The company continues to assess the full scope and impact of the incident, under the oversight of the audit committee of the board of directors,' Victoria's Secret said. 'Although this incident has not caused a material disruption to its operations to date, the company has incurred — and may continue to incur — expenses and other financial impacts related to this incident, which could negatively impact its future financial results, including for the second quarter.' It's been a complicated stretch for the Victoria's Secret board, which, in the midst of the website outage last week, also imposed a poison pill shareholder rights plan to prevent Australian entrepreneur Brett Blundy's BBRC International from buying the company without paying a control premium. BBRC has a 13 percent stake in Victoria's Secret. Best of WWD Harvey Nichols Sees Sales Dip, Losses Widen in Year Marred by Closures Nike Logs $1.3 Billion Profit, But Supply Chain Issues Persist Zegna Shares Start Trading on New York Stock Exchange
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
Tesla Protesters Claim a Victory as Elon Musk Leaves Trump's Side
Elon Musk left the Trump administration with a White House send-off on Friday. That was a victory of sorts for a group of activists who have spent much of the last four months organizing protests against Mr. Musk's right-wing politics by targeting his electric car company, Tesla. A day later, on Saturday, hundreds of people showed up at more than 50 Tesla showrooms and other company locations to continue their protests. The campaign at Tesla sites began in February after Joan Donovan, a sociology professor at Boston University, gathered friends to hold a demonstration at a Tesla showroom in Boston, and posted a notice about her plan on Bluesky using the hashtag #TeslaTakedown. She said she had been inspired by a small protest at Tesla's electric vehicle chargers in Maine soon after President Trump's inauguration. 'That first one on Feb. 15 was me and like 50 people,' Ms. Donovan said. 'And then the next week it was a hundred more people, and then a hundred more after that, and it's just grown.' Tesla Takedown has since expanded into an international movement, staging demonstrations at Tesla factories, showrooms and other locations in countries including Australia, Britain, France and Germany as well as across the United States. The campaign's U.S. growth has been fueled in large part by anger over Mr. Musk's leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency, which has slashed government spending and dismissed tens of thousands of federal workers while gaining access to sensitive personal data. Mr. Musk departed the administration after his involvement in politics hurt his companies, especially Tesla. Sales of the company's cars have tumbled since Mr. Trump took office and the start of protests against the company. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
