Home topics news Accounting News Small Business Accounting MYOB subject of $1.75bn private equity bid Gali Blacher October 9, 2018 MYOB Group says US private equity firm KKR & Co has launched a conditional $1.75 billion takeover offer for the Australian accounting software provider after buying a 19.9 per cent stake. KKR, which bought 17 per cent of MYOB from its biggest shareholder, made a $3.70 per share cash offer for the remaining 80.1 per cent of the company. The price represents a 24 per cent premium to MYOB’s last closing share price and values it at $2.18 billion. MYOB shares soared by over a fifth to $3.6 billion after the announcement, their highest intraday level in almost nine months. “With 19.9 per cent of the register, KKR effectively own a blocking stake in the company. We think this could be enough of a deterrent for a potential interloper,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note. The announcement revealed KKR had purchased 17 per cent of the company’s shares from an affiliate of Bain Capital, which acquired the then privately owned MYOB in 2011 and listed it in 2015. According to the latest ASX announcement MYOB has appointed UBS as a financial advisor and Clayton Utz as legal advisor. Bain retains a 6.1 per cent stake in the administrative software company, the statement said. The statement did not specify if Bain was endorsing KKR’s takeover offer and a spokesman for Bain was not immediately available to comment. Once the dominant provider