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· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Invocare goes from cold feet to cold hard cash as it receives a $1.8 bill offer for its graveyard gold

After floating an offer that was dead on arrival, TPG came back with a $1.8 billion offer for Invocare.

What's the key learning?

  • TPG had already bought up a 19.98% stake in Invocare prior to the bid, so, it made it very difficult for any other bidders to take over.
  • Buying up a significant stake in a publicly listed company gives an investor the ultimate power.
  • For TPG, buying the 19.98% stake was a not-so-subtle reminder of their interest in acquiring Invocare.

👉 Background: Invocare is Australia's largest funerals and crematoria operator. It orchestrates around 40,000 funerals a year under their brands Simplicity Funerals and White Lady Funerals.

👉 What happened: Five months ago, private equity giant TPG started circling this graveyard gold. Initially, TPG floated an offer that was dead on arrival. But rather than ghosting Invocare, TPG came back with a $1.8 billion offer, which has been endorsed by Invocare's board.

👉 What else: Interestingly, TPG had already bought up a 19.98% stake in Invocare prior to the bid. So, it made it very difficult for any other bidders to take over.

What's the key learning?

💡Buying up a significant stake in a publicly listed company gives an investor the ultimate power.

💡For TPG, buying the 19.98% stake was a not-so-subtle reminder of their interest in acquiring Invocare:

  • It helps them thwart any other potential acquirers.
  • It helps them gain a significant voice on the direction of the company.
  • It means they have a strong vote if they try again to gain full control.

💡This has become quite a common move; in fact, Kerry Stokes did a similar thing when he was taking over Seven West Media Network in the 90's and mid 2000's.  

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