Embattled APM inches closer to ASX exit with date set for vote on Madison Dearborn’s $1.33b takeover offer

Embattled human services provider APM’s disastrous three-year stint on the Australian Securities Exchange is drawing to a close, with a date now set for a shareholder vote on a $1 billion-plus buyout that will return in to private hands.

Scheduling of the September 18 meeting comes after independent experts Kroll Australia on Thursday declared major private equity backer Madison Dearborn Capital Partners’ cash bid of $1.45-a-share “fair and reasonable”.

The report puts a fair controlling interest value on the shares of Perth-based APM at between $1.40 and $1.74.

Chicago-based Madison Dearborn — which already controls 30 per cent of the target — lobbed the low-ball offer earlier this year after rival suitor CVC Asia Pacific walked away from an improved $2-a-share bid following four weeks of due diligence.

Its proposal values APM at $1.33b — almost $2b short of the $3.3b market valuation it achieved on its $3.55-a-share debut on the ASX in November 2021.

At Wednesday’s closing price of $1.43, the company was valued at just $1.31b.

The takeover is considered a certainty, with founder and executive chair Megan Wynne — along with her Perth IVF specialist husband Bruce Bellinge — controlling about 34 per cent of APM’s register and already stating she will sell into the buyout.

Institution investors have control of another 20 per cent of the stock.

The Michael Anghie-led company — which has 15,000 people at 1600 sites in 11 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, North America, and Asia — last month confirmed a staggering slump in full-year earnings and profit, with both key measures set to just scrape into already-downgraded guidance ranges.

It revealed preliminary unaudited underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation for the year ended June 30 would likely come in at $281 million.

That’s down 23 per cent from $365m a year earlier and will be at the bottom end of the $280m to $290m forecast range it issued as suitors began circling the company earlier this year, sparking a round of low-ball takeover offers.

While revenue is set to leap more than $400m to $2.33 billion — up from the previous year’s $1.89b — net profit will almost halve to $95m. That will be just enough for it to meet the lower end of its expected $95m to $105m range.

It also warned investors to brace for a likely non-cash impairment of between $250m and $350m that has not been included in the results.

The horror set of figures was contained in APM’s draft scheme booklet lodged for approval with financial regulators.

That booklet is due to be sent to shareholders on August 19.

APM is due to releases its full-year results on August 30.