Private equity firm eyes up Iress

Private equity firm EQT Fund Management has made a second approach towards an acquisition deal with Australian fintech Iress. EQT first proposed a bid for A$14.80 per share in June, but the Iress board rejected the offer as not being in the best interests of the firm’s shareholders. Iress has now confirmed that earlier this month EQT sent a second proposal to the fintech at a price of around A$15.50 cash per share. The deal values Iress at around A$2.96bn. The fintech has now given EQT access to some non-public information in an attempt to drive the price of the deal higher, saying that the revised offer is still not representing good value for its shareholders. Iress also announced further strategic plans to accelerate growth and returns for shareholders, with a new medium-term target set to more than double its net profit after tax by 2025. The strategic plans include pushing its software solutions further into the UK, superannuation, and investment infrastructure sectors. Iress also announced that it is to start an on-market share buy back of up to A$100m of ordinary fully paid shares next month. Andrew Walsh, chief executive at Iress, told investors at an investor strategy day this morning that investors it has spoken to so far are "pleased with the outcomes of the board’s recent review and the clear plan we’ve outlined for accelerated growth and returns.” Ian McKenna, founder of the Financial Technology Research Centre, said he was not surprised to see a deal proposed for Iress. He said: “For some time, adviser technology has been evolving into a global business and Iress was one of the very first firms to start this trend. The established management team has a strong track record of delivering scale solutions to financial advice firms in multiple jurisdictions. The growing collaboration between financial regulators is making it far easier to build and deploy solutions across many different countries with suitable localisation. “Iress are strong players in wealth, mortgages and life insurance so have offerings that can support the full long-term savings and protection landscape. Even if the current bidder does not proceed, I expect many others will now be taking a good look at this firm which certainly has a lot to offer.”

Private equity firm eyes up Iress

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