Rival suitor mulls higher bid for Permanent TSB, eyes Irish influence
Permanent TSB Group Holdings PLC was subject to a notice from another potential suitor late on Friday, which said it was willing to offer more than a rival, with whom Permanent TSB has already agreed a takeover deal.
Axis Capital, a Dublin-based advisory firm, said it is considering making a cash offer for Permanent TSB, a Dublin-based bank, priced at EUR3.20 per share.
Based on Permanent TSB's 545.0 million issued shares, the potential offer is worth EUR1.74 billion in total.
This is 7.7% higher than the offer of EUR2.97 per share from Vienna-based lender Bawag Group AG, which values Permanent TSB at EUR1.62 billion.
Permanent TSB shares closed flat at EUR2.96 each on Friday in London, giving the company a market capitalisation of about EUR1.75 billion.
Permanent TSB and Bawag had agreed to the terms of the takeover in April, and shareholders approved the transaction at a general meeting in July.
About 91% of votes were cast in favour of the deal, but Axis noted that about 25% of shareholders on Permanent TSB's register had not voted.
Axis noted that as part of its offer, it would give shareholders the option "to roll-over parts of their shares into the new structure". The structure of any potential offer remains subject to the outcome of talks between Axis and its funding partners.
It stressed that there is no certainty a firm offer will be made, but said it intended to update the market on its intentions "as soon as it is in a position to do so".
"Axis thinks it is vital for the further development of PTSB to associate especially Irish shareholders to the further development of PTSB," the suitor explained on Friday.
"Axis treats PTSB as an Irish platform to build on, not an asset to fold into a foreign group...The goal is a durable challenger to AIB and Bank of Ireland, which is what the Minister for Finance said Ireland needed when Ulster Bank and KBC left and which was the reason the Irish government saved and kept PTSB alive in the global financial crises."
The Irish government once owned 99% of Permanent TSB, when it bought shares during the financial crisis. State ownership has since reduced to 57% of Permanent TSB, which put itself up for sale in October last year.
NatWest Group PLC in July sold its stake Permanent TSB, raising EUR126 million. It sold an 11.7% interest through an accelerated book building process. NatWest received an original 16.7% stake in Permanent TSB in late 2022 as part payment for Ulster Bank loans it sold to Permanent TSB. It then trimmed its stake in 2023.
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