Bradken’s board has supported a takeover bid worth $689 million from Japan’s Hitachi Construction Machinery.
The Australian Financial Review and others report that the bid is a 34 per cent premium on Bradken’s closing price of $2.43 a share. It follows interest from several private equity firms in the mining engineering company, whose shares have traded as low as 38 cents this year.
The company said it would retain Bradken’s management teams and headquarters at Newcastle.
The board’s support depends on no better bid being made and is subject to an independent expert’s report, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Hitachi makes, sells and services mining machinery, and has a market capitalisation of roughly $5.5 billion and over 20,000 employees.