Street Talk

Samuel Terry-backed WA manufacturer Matrix snares offshore suitor

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

May 18, 2025 – 6.47pm

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WA’s Matrix Composites and Engineering Limited, a manufacturer of polymers used in the oil and gas, mining and defence industries, has fielded a big-premium merger proposal from an offshore competitor as its shares drop 35.3 per cent in a year.

Street Talk can reveal Matrix, listed on the ASX since 2009 and currently held in the portfolios of Samuel Terry Asset Management and Perpetual, has received a merger approach from UK-headquartered competitor AIS (nee Advanced Insulation Systems), which is about five times Matrix’s size with about $50 million annual earnings.

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.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.