Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) said it has proposed to acquire all of New York-listed Cubic Corporation's outstanding stock for US$78 per share in cash, up from its previous US$76-a-share offer.
In a bourse filing yesterday morning, the group announced that it had delivered the revised proposal to Cubic's board. No definitive terms or agreements have been agreed upon or executed, said ST Engineering. There is also no certainty or assurance that its proposal will be successful or will materialise, it added.
The group's new offer represents a premium of 11.4 per cent over the US$70-per-share in cash proposal agreed to by Cubic with an affiliate of Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation, which was announced on Feb 8 this year.
ST Engineering's latest announcement confirms an earlier Dow Jones report that the group's offer for Cubic had been boosted to US$78 a share. Citing people familiar with the matter, the newswire early yesterday morning noted that ST Engineering's move came after competing private equity duo, Veritas Capital and Elliot Management Corporation, raised their bid to US$72 a share from the US$70-per-share offer.
Neither of the revised bids had been previously reported at the time of publishing.
ST Engineering plans for Cubic's transportation systems (CTS) business to serve as the global headquarters of its smart mobility business. The group intends to invest in CTS and retain the Cubic brand.
CTS integrates payment and information solutions, and related services, for intelligent travel applications in the transport industry. It processes over 24 billion transactions annually, and more than 60 per cent of public transit rides in the United States, Britain and Australia are taken using its systems.
ST Engineering has also partnered affiliates of Blackstone that will buy Cubic's defence business following its acquisition of Cubic. The deal will be subject to customary closing conditions, including antitrust and foreign direct investment approvals. The deal and sale of the defence business to Blackstone will require ST Engineering shareholders' approval, but major shareholder Temasek plans to sign a voting agreement to vote in favour of it.
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