Staff of Reuters 2 minutes Reuters (Reuters) – Spark Infrastructure, based in Australia, said on Thursday that private equity company KKR & Co and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board had sought to buy it for A$4.91 billion ($3.67 billion), but that the offer was undervalued. Spark shareholders would receive A$2.80 per share, an almost 13% premium over the stock’s latest traded price of A$2.48 on Wednesday. On Wednesday, trading in Spark shares was paused after the stock reached a two-year high in response to media rumours of a purchase proposal. Spark said in a statement that it did not perform due diligence on the consortium but was “willing to share limited information on its business and prospects.” The offer is the latest in a rush of merger and acquisition activity in Australia, as record-low interest rates encourage corporations with excess money to seek better yields just as the economy recovers from a pandemic-driven downturn. Spark, which controls an electrical distribution network in Southern Australia, has seen its stock jump more than 17% this year, as infrastructure spending and industrial activity revive. (1 Australian dollar = 1.3367 dollars) Sameer Manekar contributed reporting from Bengaluru, while Shounak Dasgupta and Subhranshu Sahu edited the piece./n
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