FleetPartners takeover race advances with two $4.65 offers

Three Revised Offers Reach the Next Stage

The takeover contest for FleetPartners Group Limited (ASX:FPR) has narrowed to three bidders, with ORIX Corporation and the Sumitomo Consortium submitting the highest disclosed revised proposals at $4.65 per share. SG Fleet Topco Limited has also lifted its indicative proposal, offering $4.55 per share.

FleetPartners said the revised proposals arrived after each party received initial limited commercial and financial due diligence access. The Board has now approved a further phase of due diligence for SG Fleet, ORIX and the Sumitomo Consortium, taking into account their revised prices and the other terms attached to their proposals.

Element Withdraws From the Process

Element Fleet Management Corp. has told the Board it will not submit a revised proposal. Its withdrawal removes one of the four parties that had previously submitted indicative approaches, leaving three bidders still engaged in a process that could ultimately lead to a scheme of arrangement.

The disclosed prices are not locked in. FleetPartners said each Revised NBIO is conditional, subject to varying terms and further due diligence requests, and may be reduced for any dividend, distribution, capital return or other shareholder return announced after the relevant proposal date unless treated as a permitted distribution.

No Binding Deal Has Been Secured

The Board has not announced a preferred bidder, and FleetPartners cautioned that there is no certainty any of the revised proposals will become binding offers or that a transaction will proceed. Shareholders do not need to take action at this stage.

The next material step is therefore not another indicative price, but whether one or more bidders converts its interest into a binding proposal on terms the Board can recommend. Until then, the $4.65 figures remain conditional markers in a live process rather than a guaranteed exit price.