Updated

Pendal/Perpetual merger firms as court frustrates Regal bid

Lucas Baird, Ben Potter and Jonathan Shapiro

Updated Nov 17, 2022 – 5.50pm, first published at 9.21am

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A consortium led by Phil King’s Regal Partners will have to pay additional compensation if it proceeds with a $1.89 billion bid for Perpetual and derails its proposed merger with rival fund manager Pendal Group under a court decision, sharply reducing the bid’s prospects.

Justice Ashley Black of the NSW Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Perpetual would have to pay not only a $23 million break fee to Pendal, but that it may be liable to further relief if it walked from the merger to entertain a buyout from the consortium of Regal Partners and Swedish private equity firm BPEA-EQT.

Lucas Baird is a journalist based in The Australian Financial Review's Sydney office.

Ben Potter writes on energy, climate change and innovation, and has been Washington correspondent, opinion editor and companies editor.

Jonathan Shapiro writes about banking and finance, specialising in hedge funds, corporate debt, private equity and investment banking. He is based in Sydney.