Plot thickens in private equity group Next Capital’s proposed $28m takeover tilt for Silver Chef

A Brisbane fund manager married to one of our Olympic swimming champs now has the power to thwart a $28 million takeover.

PLOT THICKENS

The plot has thickened, as they say, in the private equity takeover tilt for Silver Chef, the embattled Brisbane firm which has been leasing kitchen equipment for more than 30 years.

Fund manager Luke Trickett and his Blue Stamp Company now have the power to derail Next Capital’s proposed $28 million acquisition of Silver Chef when shareholders meet next week to vote on the privatisation scheme, which has been endorsed by the board.

Yet whether Trickett, the low-profile hubby of Olympic swimming champ Libby, chooses to come in over the top and lob his own offer remains shrouded in mystery. “There’s lots of speculation about what he’s up to,’’ one observer told us.

Libby Trickett with husband Luke. Picture: Peter Wallis

Newstead-based Blue Stamp launched in 2010 and one of its trusts has long held a stake in Silver Chef.

But it was only after Next Capital unveiled its plan early last month that Blue Stamp went on a buying spree.

In the past two weeks alone, Trickett has splashed out nearly $250,000 in multiple trades to take the holding to 19.99 per cent, which gives him a blocking stake to thwart Next Capital.

Curiously, all of the most recent buys were priced at just slightly higher than the 70 cents per share offer made by Next Capital so the logic of the move wasn’t immediately clear.

But, under the Next Capital scheme, investors will reap another 3 to 6 cents per share top up over the next two years as Silver Chef sells down the assets in its Go Getta business division, which flogged sedans, wagons and SUVs. That’s expected to reap between $10 million and $12 million.

HUNKERED DOWN

The most benign theory is that Trickett could merely be gambling that the Go Getta bonus will more than cover his recent outlay.

We just don’t know and Trickett didn’t return a call seeking clarity.

That’s probably because he was hunkered down in talks with Silver Chef, which went in to a trading halt yesterday precisely because Blue Stamp’s latest manoeuvre “may affect the voting outcome’’ next week it said in a statement to the ASX.

Silver Chef founder Allan English.

By pure coincidence, Silver Chef’s annual results will be unveiled on Thursday and they are not expected to be pretty. The company lost $11.7 million in the December half and suffered a record $48 million net loss in the last financial year following a protracted drama with lenders.

Investors who saw the share price hit a high of more than $11 in 2016 are now ropeable they may now only get a paltry 70 cents.

Adding to their anger is the fact that company founder Allan English and his associated entities, which control nearly 23 per cent of the stock, won’t be selling and he is expected to stay active in the company once it is recapitalised. He declined to comment yesterday.

Silver Chef board recommends shareholders accept takeover bid by private equity group Next Capital

These are tough days for Allan English and his Silver Chef hospitality group in Brisbane