CVC Asia Pacific has decided against making a binding offer for employment services provider APM Human Services International (ASX: APM).
On 27 March, APM requested the ASX to grant a trading halt for its shares “pending the release of an update in relation to the receipt of a letter from CVC advising that they are unable to proceed to finalise a transaction on terms consistent with their non-binding offer as disclosed to the ASX on 28 February, 2024 and the ending of CVC’s exclusivity period”.
APM’s shares had closed on 26 March at $1.63.
A non-binding offer from CVC had been announced on 28 February. This increased an initial $1.60 per share offer to $2.00 per share. The increased offer valued the company at $1.834 billion.
The revised proposal represented a premium of 141% to the company’s closing share price on 16 February when CVC made its initial offer.
Perth-based APM, a registered provider under the National Disability Insurance Scheme, provides vocational rehabilitation, vocational training and employment assistance services to government and private sector clients internationally.
On 21 March, APM announced it had secured new “Employment Services Transformation” contracts in Ontario, Canada, following earlier winning new contracts in the US.
APM was an investee of Chicago private equity firm Madison Dearborn when it listed on the ASX in November 2021 after raising $982.1 million in its IPO.
Shares were issued in the IPO at $3.55.
Madison Dearborn sold down its stake in the IPO from 52.1% to 29.7%. Founder and executive chair Megan Wynne and her husband Bruce Bellinge sold down their 38.4% stake to 34.2% and chief executive Michael Anghie reduced his stake from 4.1% to 2.2%.
Wynne, an occupational therapist, established APM in Perth in 1994. The company has grown to employ more than 15,000 people in Australia, the UK, Canada, the US, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Singapore and South Korea.
Sydney firm Quadrant Private Equity made an undisclosed investment in APM in 2017. In 2019, APM acquired then ASX-listed Konekt, a national provider of employment and mental health services for around $90 million.
In early 2020, Madison Dearborn bought Quadrant’s then 55% stake in APM. No financial details were disclosed but the deal is believed to have generated Quadrant a return of more than $500 million.
Image: APM group chief executive Michael Anghie and founder Megan Wynne ring the ASX bell on the company’s listing.