HUB24 proportional buyout bid for Easton Investments becomes unconditional

Australia's HUB24 Ltd. said its proportional takeover offer for Easton Investments Ltd. became unconditional Feb. 1.

The Australia-listed company is offering to acquire 1 in every 3 shares in Easton at A$1.20 apiece. The proposal also involves HUB24's recently completed sale of Paragem Pty. Ltd. to Easton in exchange for roughly 3.3 million shares in the target company. In light of the sale's completion, the holding lock for the shares issued as consideration for Paragem has now been removed, giving HUB24 ownership of an 18.75% stake in Easton, according to separate Feb. 1 news releases.

Easton directors unanimously recommended shareholders to accept the offer, after doing so themselves, ahead of the bid's closing Feb. 22.

The technology partnership and distribution agreement between HUB24 and Easton are now in place, establishing guidelines for the pair's future exploration of software development projects. The deal entailed the issuance of 1.7 million Easton options to HUB24.

Separately, Sequoia Financial Group Ltd. said it completed the acquisition of Panthercorp CST Pty. Ltd. from Easton and certain assets from First Option Financial Management Pty. Ltd.