The company's largest investor has put the remaining 18.5% stake in Multiplan up for sale (Image: Money Times/ Vitória Fernandes)
The actions of the Multiplan (MULT3) opened higher on the market this morning (20). At around 11:30 am, the stock rose 2.98%, quoted at R$ 27.33. The advance comes after communicating the interest in buying, together with its shareholder and founder, the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan (OTPP) stake in the company.
OTPP has put up for sale the remaining 18.5% stake in Multiplan, thus ending its position in the company after 18 years. The total number of shares available is 11,260,914 and founder José Isaac Peres has preference, according to the shareholders' agreement between them.
The founder of the shopping mall management company therefore decided to buy the 21,211,387 sharesincreasing its share from 26.2% to 35,37%excluding the total in treasury.
However, Peres also decided to offer the company, through Multiplan Participações (MPAR), the opportunity to acquire 90,049,527 MULT3 shares under the same conditions — and Multiplan confirmed its interest by calling a meeting for shareholders to vote. The total amount to be disbursed would be R$2 billion.
If the transaction goes ahead, Multiplan intends to purchase the shares with its own resources and third-party financing.
The company also reported, in a material fact, that the purpose of the share buyback is to eventually cancel the acquired shares. With this, the total number of MULT3 shares in circulation (free float), excluding treasury securities, would reach 64.63%.
If the shareholders approve the transaction at the EGM, the closing of the deal is subject to the termination of the current shareholders' agreement so that OTPP ceases to be part of the shopping mall administrator's controlling group.
Movement is 'bold' but positive
In the market's assessment, the move is “bold” but positive. For analysts Bruno Mendonça and Wellington Lourenço, from Bradesco BBI and Ágora, Multiplan's message to minority investors is encouraging, since the capital allocation, with the buyback, implies an attractive acquisition capitalization rate of 12%.
The BTG Pactual analyst team also sees the announcement as positive. They highlight mainly a solid capital structure, the controlling family's commitment to the company, in addition to generating value for minority investors.
“Following the recent outperformance of MULT3 shares (which have risen 4-5% more than their peers recently), we believe this deal is mostly priced in, but we reaffirm our Buy recommendation, as the valuation still looks attractive at 10.8x P/FFO 2025E (post-trading)”, assess the bank’s analysts.
Regarding risks, BTG points to uncertainty in the real estate sector, which is suffering from fluctuations in economic activity, higher interest rates and lower capital availability, in addition to competition for assets in the primary and secondary markets.
“Multiplan’s specific risks would be delays in the development pipeline; excess costs in new projects (capex) and excessive SG&A expenses,” they highlight.
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