The second largest shareholder in Link Group says a $5.20-per-share indicative offer made by a private equity consortium of Carlyle Group and Pacific Equity Partners is too cheap and symptomatic of a looming rush of opportunistic buyout offers likely to be made in the economic downturn.

Link Group, which provides services to the funds management and superannuation sectors and runs the share registry for dozens of ASX200 companies, received the indicative offer from the private equity players at the weekend.