Street Talk

COG Financial Services throws hat in the ring for Diverger

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Updated Oct 30, 2023 – 7.16am, first published at 5.00am

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Plenty of action at Diverger, the ASX-listed licensee services group which had already agreed to be acquired by rival financial services outfit, Count Limited. That deal was for around $1.14 per share in cash and scrip.

Now COG Financial Services, an asset finance broking group, has lobbed a rival offer, Street Talk understands. The offer was made last week and is at a premium to Count’s. Sources said the bid was at around $1.40 per share – half cash, half scrip. Including options held by major shareholder HUB24 and performance rights, this values Diverger’s equity at $56.4 million.

correction —

An earlier version of this article referred to Cameron McCullagh as Cameron McCullough. We regret the error.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones. Email Sarah at sarah.thompson@afr.com

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column. Email Kanika at kanika.sood@afr.com.au

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review. Connect with Emma on Twitter. Email Emma at emma.rapaport@afr.com