The board of Iress is recommending shareholders back EQT Fund Management’s latest bid for the Australia-based financial software firm.
Late last month, Health & Protection reported that Iress was in talks over a potential sale to EQT Fund Management after its board knocked back two initial bids to purchase the Australia-based financial software firm.
In the UK Iress is one of the main providers of sourcing software for protection insurance products and also operates systems for the mortgage advice process.
At the time Iress confirmed it had rejected a “confidential, unsolicited, non-binding and indicative” proposal from EQT Fund Management to buy all Iress shares for between A$15.30 and A$15.50 per share – valuing the the business at around A$2.63bn (approximately £1.4bn).
But Iress’s board is now recommending shareholders vote in favour of EQT’s revised bid of A$15.91 cash per share before franking credits, comprising a cash consideration of A$15.75 per share and a permitted FY21 interim dividend for eligible shareholders up to A$0.16 per Iress share.
Iress also agreed to grant EQT a period of exclusivity for 30 days to undertake its due diligence.
The development comes as Iress released financial results for the first half of 2021 which revealed pro forma segment profit, in constant currency, of $77.2m – up 3% on the same period of last year.
The firm added it expects segment profit, in constant currency, to be between $164m and $168m for the full year, buoyed by an acceleration of earnings and 16-21% growth in segment profit compared to H1 2020.
Iress said second half results will reflect an improved contribution from OneVue, and the go live of Guild in Super administration and two new live clients in UK Mortgages.
Iress added its UK business has a strong revenue pipeline and scope for significant growth, while December’s results will also benefit from the timing of annual leave.
