Tracking ASX takeovers since pre-GFC peak in 2007

2026: 3 completed deals so far

1. Southern Cross Media (SXL)/Seven West Media: rival radio operator ARN Media lodged a revised bid for SXL and its allies lodged a removal resolution for disagreeable SXL chair Rob Murray, who brought forward his departure, seemingly clearing the last major board obstacle for a deal to be done. The EGM request by Spheria Asset Management was withdrawn on March 28, 2024 and the ARN Media offer was withdrawn on May 11 after Anchorage withdrew from the bidding consortium due to earnings weakness in the regional television business. ARN was still talking about merging but SXL was clearly unimpressed. Antony Catalano later entered the play with a merger proposal with Southern Cross through his 20 Cashews outfit, a partnership with Thorney. The AFR's Street Talk column had this brutal update on SXL in August 2024. The Stock had tumbled to 54c by the November 2025 AGM which was a brutal affair as can be seen in this AGM wrap. The CFO quit shortly before Christmas, a day after they announced the sale of 3 regional stations to Network Ten for an estimated $10m-$15m NPV, subject to advertising performance. The share price was back at 60c by mid April 2025 with no takeover action appearing likely to succeed. On May 12, a group of shareholders co-ordinated by activist fund Sandon Capital requisitioned an EGM to remove 4 directors. Fast forward to September 2025 and it announced a merger with Seven West but only Seven West shareholders got a vote. This enraged some shareholders but they got through a hostile 2025 AGM where Sandon again put up multiple resolutions and Seven West shareholders voted on the deal at 10am on December 22 at Eveleigh in Sydney. The merger was comfortably approved by Seven West Media shareholders on December 22 and by the NSW Supreme Court on December 23. The effective date was January 7, 2026.

2. RPMGlobal (RUL): ran a structured process via MA Financial after selling its advisory division in April 2025 and this finished with US giant Caterpillar offering $5 a share on September 1, a 32.6% premium to the August 28 price of $3.77. They entered into a 4 week exclusivity deed with Caterpillar to firm up the offer. The market cap jumped to $1.02 billion with the stock at $4.65 on September 2. The virtual AGM was on October 17 and the scheme meeting was a hybrid at 10am in Brisbane on December 19 where the deal was comfortably approved. ACCC approval came through the night before the meeting but the FIRB has requested an extension until January 15 to make its decision. It finally came through on January 22, 2026.

3. Robex Resources (RXR): on October 6 it announced a "merger of equals" with Predictive Discovery (PDI) to create a major Africa-focused gold miner although legally it was PDI doing the buying. Robex shareholders were scheduled to hold a midnight Melbourne time scheme of arrangement vote on December 15 to approve the Predictive Discovery merger and create a dual-listed Australian-Canadian gold mining company with operations in Mali and Guinea. Robex is dual-listed in Canada with a market cap of $1.43b and PDI is ASX listed with a market cap of $1.89b so this merger would create a $3b+ mining company. On December 3, Robex announced that Perseus Mining (PRU), which has a market cap of $7.3 billion, had lodged a superior takeover proposal and that PDI had 5 business days to match or beat the offer. Perseus already owned 18% of PDI and has offered up a loan to pay Robex the $37m break-fee. Robex then matched the bid on December 11 reducing its slice of the combined company from 49% to 46.5%. Maybe Perseus should buy both of them! Unlikely, as 95.4% of voted Robex stock approved the deal at a December 30 special meeting. The Quebec court approved the deal on January 14, so Predictive Discovery has become a much bigger company with Perseus as its largest shareholder.

Agreed deals ranked in order of likely chronological completion date

Insignia (IFL): the media broke the story on December 12 and Insignia confirmed on December 13 that US private equity firm Bain had lobbed an indicative offer at $4 a share. Another US PE firm CC Capital Partners then lobbed a $4.30 rival offer on January 6 and Bain matched this on January 13. Brookfield then entered the fray with a $4.60 a share offer that was announced on February 5. On March 7, Insignia announced that both Bain and CC Capital had lobbed improved bids at $5 a share and that they were proceeding with due diligence access to the financials for both. An extension of the exclusivity period for Bain and CC Capital was announced on April 17 then Bain dropped out on May 14. The AFR's Street column pointed out on June 6 that the whole bid process might fail. On July 1 Insignia announced that CC Capital was still in the game working up a bid and this eventually landed on July 22 when the parties unveiled their Scheme Implementation Deed at $4.80 per share. The AGM passed in November with still no agreement from FIRB.

Apiam Animal Health (AHX): Pepper is taking them over. See 454 page scheme book which was released on December 12. The scheme meeting is a hybrid via Lumi at 11am in Melbourne on February 3. The market cap is $160m.

National Storage (NSR): A consortium of Brookfield and GIC offered $2.86 per share and were given exclusive due diligence until December 7, 2025 which materialised into a binding offer at that price which valued the equity at $4 billion as Chanticleer explained in this piece looking at the Brookfield-GIC history at Origin Energy.

Australian Strategic Minerals (ASM): has agreed to a $426 million scrip takeover by US uranium company Energy Fuels. See scheme implementation agreement. It was pitched as being worth $1.60 per share and the stock immediately doubled to that level when trading resumed on January 21, 2026.

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Corporate control moves since the beginning of 2024 with no agreement or completion

Abacus Storage King (ASK): Ki Corp and US-listed Public Storage launched a joint bid pitched at $1.47 per share on April 7, 2025. The previous close was $1.16 and the bid valued the equity at $1.92 billion. External manager Abacus Group owns a 19.7% stake and is key to the bid. The bid was formally rejected on May 13 and the stock was at $1.51 in early 2026.

Ainsworth Gaming Technology (AGI): announced a $1 a share mop up bid by its Austrian controlling shareholder on April 28, 2025 which was far less than the $2.75 it paid for control when founder Len Ainsworth sold out for $473m in 2016. Minority shareholders responded by furiously venting to The AFR. See scheme implementation agreement which puts an enterprise value of $336m on the whole business in 2025. The company has been knocked about by recent media reports about its CEO. The 224 page scheme book dropped on July 27 and the physical scheme meeting was to be at 10am on August 29 but they pulled the plug after proxies showed it would be defeated. Novomatic came back with a new $1 per share offer on September 3 and Ainsworth released this 152 page target statement on September 15 urging acceptance. CEO Harald Neumann resigned on October 13 after the media coverage led to licensing trouble in Nevada. On October 23 Kjerulf Ainsworth, one of Len's 7 sons, launched a bizarre proportional takeover offer for 2.9% of each shareholder's stake in the company, which Ainsworth rejected. He became a substantial holder on August 28 with 5.5% and disclosed an increased stake of 7.27% on December 4. Novomatic remains clearly in control with 58.8% at last count.

AUB Group (AUB): blink and you miss it with this group. The AFR's Street Talk column broke the news of Swedish private equity firm EQT's interest at 2.56pm on October 27, 2025 sparking a jump in the share price, a pause in trading at 3.21pm and a requested trading halt at 6.21pm the same day. The next morning AUB revealed that Swedish private equity giant EQT had lodged an NBIO pitched at $43 per share on September 13 and another at $45 per share on September 27. The response to the ASX price query also dropped at 9.20am on October 28. Street Talk followed up at 4.12pm doing an around the grounds of analyst reaction and Chanticleer columnist Anthony McDonald weighed in at 4.04pm the same day looking at the disclosure debate. On November 10 AUB revealed that EQT had asked for an extra two weeks due diligence because fellow private equity firm CVC had joined its consortium. On December 1 the deal was called off because the bidders thought $45 per share or $5.25 billion was too high and AUB wouldn't reduce the price. The stock subsequently tumbled 16% to $31.50 having never got near the mooted $45 per share offer price. It would have been better if this thing had never leaked, sparking a 5 week saga about nothing. EQT has now tried and failed with 3 ASX listed companies after earlier aborted runs at IRESS and Perpetual. The stock was at $30 in early 2026.

Austal (ASB): received a non-binding offer from South Korean firm Hanwha at $2.825 on April 2 which was always unlikely to succeed for sovereign security reasons. The stock subsequently performed well and was at $3.73 by mid-February 2025 so rejection was the right call. The South Koreans then conducted an on-market raid on March 17 2025 at $4.45 per share, according to The AFR's Street Talk column. It finished with 19% in a complicated structure but control is unlikely to pass given that Andrew Forrest has a 19.4% blocking stake. The US-based chair Richard Spencer, a former US Navy Secretary, launched a fruity media attack on the bid on March 19 via The Australian, but no similar sentiments were lodged with the ASX. Hanwha advised the ASX on June 10 that is had received US government clearance for the bid but was still awaiting FIRB approval to move above 10%. By September it had 20% and was facing a FIRB inquiry as to whether it could even keep that. The Treasurer approved the 20% holding on December 12, 2025, but no more. The stock was at $7.20 in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $2.8 billion.

Bapcor (BAP): US private equity firm Bain lobbed an opportunistic $1.83 billion non-binding offer at $5.30 a share on June 11 2024 after a raft of board and executive upheavals, profit downgrades and bad headlines destabilised the company. Bapcor recommended against and appointed Angus McKay executive chair to try and turn things around with some radical restructure plans. McKay then resigned in December 2025, sparking a jump in the share price which was at $2.07 in early 2026 still miles below the mooted offer price.

Bluescope Steel (BSL): Kerry Stokes' SGH group and US firm Steel Dynamics offered a joint $30 per share bid. The $13.2 billion offer was first leaked to The AFR on January 5 with all parties confirming the offer on January 6, 2025, when the Bluescope share price soared $5.09 or 20.8% to $29.54. Bluescope formally rejected the bid as "highly opportunistic" at 7.15pm on January 7.

Brightstar (NTR): announced it was in merger discussions with Aurumin (AUN) on June 30, 2025. They share tenements but Brightstar is much more valuable capped at around $230m versus circa $50m for Aurumin.

Humm Group (HUM): founding chair Andrew Abercrombie lobbed a non-binding indicative $286m privatisation proposal on June 25, 2025. He already owns 26.6% and is offering 58c a share, a premium to the previous close of 43c. but there was little progress for a few months. Then, Credit Corp lobbed a rival takeover proposal on December 17 and then insider trading claims were flying thick and fast. The stock was at 72c in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $352m.

IRESS (IRE): The AFR broke the news of private equity interest at 8pm on August 7, 2025 and the company responded confirming that private equity giant Blackstone earlier offered $10.50 per share but no agreement has been reached. Another firm Thoma Bravo is also in the mix. Chanticleer produced this update on August 17, detailing correspondence from "seething" shareholders wanting the company sold after years of frustrations. In claimed to have nothing to add to this Margin Call piece in The Australian. The stock was at $8.25 in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $1.57 billion.

Mayne Pharma (MYX): US firm Cosette Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $7.40 a share, valuing the equity at $672m. The 120 page scheme implementation agreement was the first anyone knew of the deal when it dropped on February 21, 2025. The company did a 20-for-1 consolidation in late 2022 coinciding with a $113 million return to shareholders following the divestment of its Metrics business. Its last result before the deal was inked showed a $173m full year loss for 2023-24, leaving it with accumulated losses of $944m and net assets of $455m so once the takeover completes the total shareholder experience will be a loss of about $700m. A scheme meeting has been scheduled for 10am on June 18 in Melbourne. See 222 page scheme book which dropped on May 15. Cosette warned of a material adverse change on May 21. Mayne Pharma provided this update on June 4 which didn't really clarify Cosette's intentions and then later on June 4 informed the market that Cosette had filed a "purported notice of termination" which it rejected. Shareholders comfortably approved the scheme at the June 18 EGM. See text of 4 questions asked. It then went before the NSW Supreme Court to determine if there had been a material adverse event. See interesting AFR piece on September 3 on the court battle as it raged. In the end it was Treasurer Jim Chalmers who blocked the deal using his FIRB powers after Cosette threatened to close Mayne's Adelaide manufacturing facility, sparking union and job loss concerns which resonated with the Treasurer even though a potential buyer of the plant emerged late in the process. Mayne Pharma was still robustly taking a stick to Cosette as late as December 3 with this ASX announcement reserving all rights. This November 24 Rear Window item summed up much of the drama. The stock was at $3.14 in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $263 million.

Monash IVF (MVF): private equity firm Genesis Capital and Soul Patts teamed up with an 80c per share offer after it was hit by a series of scandals but they pulled the plug on the $312m offer just before Christmas in 2025. The stock was at 75c in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $292 million.

Orora (ORA): the Amcor spin-off received a takeover bid from private equity firm Lone Star which it rejected on August 13, 2024. The $2.55 per share offer valued the company at $3.3 billion and was viewed as opportunistic after the stock had recently hit a 10 year low of $1.87. The AFR's Street Talk column also reported that rival private equity firm Apollo was running the numbers on making a bid but it all went quiet through the AGM season and the stock was wallowing at $1.91 by July 2 2025.

Pact Group (PGH): after raising $648 million from public investors at $3.80 a share in 2013, the billionaire founder Raphael Geminder tried to privatise it with an 84c a share offer that will cost him about $145 million. Was up to 87% by March 5 but was then slowed down by a Takeover's Panel application which saw it temporarily barred from processing acceptances. Latest filing had him at 87.63% but annoying how the notice doesn't include the percentage. There are 344.29m shares on issue if you want to work it out. The offer closed on June 7 and eventually fell short so the stock remains listed and was at 82c on August 16. The AGM in November was a heavy affair with the two major minority shareholders, David Harris and Mark Gandur, running for the board and causing a second strike spill vote. See package of AGM/EGM action. A sudden surge in the share price sparked this ASX query in early February 2025. Pact Group then called an EGM to delist from the ASX which was approved with 91% support on June 12, 2025. The dispute then finished up in the Supreme Court and was settled for about $10m in December 2025.

Platinum Capital (PMC): After a strategic review, proposed a merger with a Platinum-managed ETF in July 2024. PM Capital Global Opportunities fund (PGF) proposed an alternative takeover of both PMC and its stablemate Platinum Asia Investment (PAI) back on February 27. On April 7, PMC said it still believed the PTM proposal was superior. Market cap was $398m on June 10. L1 Capital advised on June 23 that it would be voting its 16.85% stake against the proposal so it was ditched. Announced on June 6 that a draft scheme book with an independent experts report had been lodged with ASIC. The scheme meeting was to be held on August 12 as a hybrid in Sydney and via the Link/MUFG platform. The 276 page scheme book dropped at 5.30pm on July 11 but it was redundant. It has now been renamed GLS, is managed by L1 Group and completed a $400m+ capital raise in late 2025 to double its market cap to almost $1 billion.

Pointsbet (PBH): announced an agreed bid at $1.06 per share with Japanese Group Mixi on February 26 but then listed rival BETR/Bluebet lobbed a counter-bid later the same day. BETR lodged this 21 page proposal on March 6 and announced a $130m capital raising at 32c in late April which included securing a 20% stake in Pointsbet after spending $72m at $1.09 per share. Pointsbet pushed on with the Mixi bid and a scheme meeting was initially called for June 12 despite BETR being in a good position to vote it down. The Mixi offer was increased to $1.20 per share on June 4 and on June 16 they promised to lodge a takeover bid if the scheme fails, conditional only on securing 50.1%. Meanwhile, BETR claimed its offer was superior with the $1.20 per share cash and scrip mix, but Pointsbet preferred the certainty of Mixi's all cash offer. The scheme meeting was rescheduled to 9am on June 25. BETR lobbed a revised scrip offer on Friday, June 20 which it claimed valued Pointsbet at $1.22. The AFR's Rear Window column had an interesting piece on the $20m incentive payout to the various Pointsbet execs if the Mixi bid gets up. See final Pointbet announcement dissing BETR for not producing a proper offer on June 23, two days before the meeting. Asked the only two questions at the scheme meeting where the scheme was seemingly defeated on the proxies only to have BETR accidentally rescind its proxy vote when logging into the meeting, as these voting results show. BETR quickly demanded a recount and then Pointsbet clarified the situation which was headed back to court the next morning, until Computershare puts its hand up and claimed the BETR votes were cancelled in error so the scheme was defeated. Chanticleer summed up the farce well. BETR lodged this 128 page bidder statement on July 16 with the 77 page MIXI bidder statement landing on the following day, July 17. Pointsbet formally rejected the BETR scrip offer on July 23 with MIXI up to 9.15% by this point. On July 24, BETR called an EGM to approve a buyback of at least $80m at 32c to provide some certainty of a cash exit for Pointsbet shareholders who wanted to get out. However, this was cancelled on August 18 after a deal with the Takeovers Panel which didn't want separate meetings on the buyback and the takeover. On July 30, BETR lifted its all scrip offer to what it said equated to $1.35 based on BETR's 32c capital raising price (the stock was at 29c on August 25 giving it a market cap of $308m.) On July 31, Pointsbet rejected the increased offer and noted BETR had lodged a Takeovers Panel complaint which had been rejected. Mixi had achieved 28% acceptances when it lifted its offer to $1.25 per share on August 8. On August 21, MIXI lifted its cash offer to $1.30 which it said was the last and final bid and would close on August 29. It had 37% in acceptances at this point. On August 22, BETR lodged this 328 page notice of meeting for a September 22 EGM. Pointsbet shares closed at $1.255 on August 22, giving it a market cap of $426m. The AFR's Street Talk column ran this item on August 25 claiming that BETR was in discussions about buying Entain's Australian business, which includes Ladbrokes and NEDs. By September 1, BETR had moved to 27% of Pointsbet but Mixi also had control with acceptances of 51.6% and its offer has been extended for a final close on September 12. It finished with 66.4% and BETR did not accept so is presumably waiting for a higher mop up bid later.

Qube (QUB): A Macquarie consortium has offered $5.20 per share which values the business at $11.6 billion, including debt. The parties have signed a process deed which gives Macquarie exclusive due diligence until February 1, 2026.
The stock was at $4.79 in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $8.5 billion.

Santos (STO): granted due diligence to a consortium comprising the Emirates and private equity firm Carlyle which offered $8.89 per share or around $30 billion in cash, as The AFR's Chanticleer column explained on June 16 when it dropped. Santos entered into a process and exclusivity deed on June 27. Provided this update about the XRG Consortium's $US5.76 per share bid on August 25. However, with mounting opposition and delays, the bidding vehicle walked away on September 17, as Chanticleer explained at the time. See official ASX announcement. The stock subsequently tumbled to $6.10 in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $19.7 billion.

Tourism Holdings Ltd (THL): private equity firm BGH and a founding Brisbane family lobbed an offer on June 16 for the Kiwi company and BGH quickly disclosed it had acquired a 17.8% stake on June 14. New Zealand's Accident Compensation Commission has since built a 9.3% blocking stake. The board rejected the bid on August 4 claiming it is worth "well north of $3". See text of 4 questions asked at AGM held on October 24, 2025. The bidders have now crept up to a combined 19.9% stake but there have been no further developments.

Webjet (WJL): private equity firm BGH Capital has its foot on just over 10% and has flagged an 80c offer to gain control but potentially retain the public listing, which is unusual for private equity. There were press reports of a mystery raider on May 8, followed by confirmation of BGH's role on May 9 and then Webjet reported the NBIO offer late on May 13. Rival Helloworld has since emerged with a 16% stake. The AGM was a lively affair on August 28 as can be seen in this account of the meeting. Ariadne and BGH then called an EGM for November 21 to change the board but cancelled it the day before after falling short on the proxies with just 30% support. Helloworld launched an offer at 90c per share on November 19 and BGH countered with an offer pitched at 91c on November 21. The stock was at 87c in early 2026 giving it a market cap of $341 million. The ACCC gave Helloworld clearance to bid in December 2025 but there have been no further developments.

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2025: 30 completed deals

January: 1

1. Latin Resources (LRS): Pilbara Minerals agreed to issue about $530m worth of its stock to buy Latin Resources which had a market cap of $308m on August 15, before the agreed takeover was announced with a 185 page implementation agreement. Pilbara is a rare profitable lithium operator with a market cap of $8.57b going into the deal and Latin has a good lithium project in Brazil, amongst other prospects, which it is effectively selling in exchange for 6.4% of Pilbara's stock. Latin Resources first floated in 2010 when it raised $6m at 20c. The stock jumped 50% to 18c when trading resumed after the deal was announced, whilst Pilbara shares dipped 3.5% suggesting it was overpaying. All lithium boats have been lifted by Rio Tinto's $10b splash on Arcadium. The 496 page scheme book was lodged with ASIC on November 29, 2024. The two scheme meetings were held as physicals in Perth on January 16 2025 and were approved by 99% of voted stock and 93% of voting shareholders. ASX trading ended on January 20 ahead of the second court hearing on January 21 and the effective date of January 22 ahead of trading ceasing on January 23, 2025. The record date was January 28 and the implementation date February 4.

February: 2

2. Auswide Bank (ABA): the Bundaberg-based former building society agreed to merge with Tasmanian small bank rival Mystate in an all scrip deal which saw Auswide emerge with 34% of the combined operation which will be capitalised at around $600 million. Required Auswide shareholder approval and they initially aimed for a pre-Christmas completion. The 340 page scheme book was lodged with the ASX on October 23, 2024 and the scheme meeting was a hybrid scheduled for 11am in Brisbane on December 2 but the NSW Supreme Court ordered that it be delayed until February 3, 2025. The scheme passed with 93% support from shares voted and 90% support from voting shareholders. The shares ceased trading on February 10, the record date was February 12 and the new shares were issued on February 19, 2025. Fast forward to September 2025 and Mystate was capitalised at $727m.

3. Red Hawk Mining (RHK): Fortescue offered $254m for the wannabe iron ore miner in an agreed deal announced on January 28, 2025. The stock soared 44% on the day it was announced. It was pitched as an off market bid at $1.05 per share, rising to $1.20 per share if it reached 75% within 7 days of the bid launch. The company has a colourful history and was called Flinders Mines until a 2023 name change. The largest shareholder is New Zealand's billionaire Todd family through TIO (NZ) which launched a takeover bid for Flinders Mines in 2016. The second largest shareholder is China-connected OCJ Australia and together they own 70% of the company and endorsed the bid. FMG had already snaffled 79% by February 5, a week after the bid was launched and was through 90% by February 19. Removed from the ASX on February 28 so it was all done in a month.

March: 2

4. Hotel Property Investments (HPI): Charter Hall and Hostplus bid $3.65 per unit for the hotels landlord in September 2024 but were initially rebuffed with their offer which valued the equity at $711 million. The AFR's Chanticleer column pointed out it was pitched at a 10% discount to net assets. The offer was increased to $3.85 on October 18 and eventually landed at $3.785 after payment of a 6.5c distribution. They'd hit 26.6% by November 13 as the board continued to resist, re-affirming their rejection on November 25, after which the offer was extended until December 17. They hit 52% at the close which triggered a board capitulation on December 20 in the context of a falling market. The offer was extended to January 31 and the bidders had reached 90.8% by February 17, meaning they could issue these compulsory acquisition notices on February 18. Was removed from the ASX on March 4 and my compulsory acquisition cheque arrived on June 23, 2025.

5. Arcadium Lithium (LTM): Rio Tinto secured board approval for a $10 billion cash offer which was announced on October 9 and was pitched at $US5.85, a 90% premium to the previous close of $US3.08. Released this 300 page proxy statement for the transaction on November 4 and the LTM shareholders voted 98% in favour around Christmas. Was delisted from the ASX on March 17, 2025.

April: 3

6. Bigtincan (BTH): two bidders duked it out for many months. On December 5, the board endorsed the Vector offer after Investcorp AI failed to improve its earlier offer, which was voted down with only 22% support at the AGM held on November 29, 2024. Market cap was around around $160m going into the scheme meeting initially scheduled for February 27. See notice of meeting. See latest scheme book released on March 5 for the hybrid scheme meeting held in Sydney at 10am on April 3 which was comfortably passed. The stock was suspended on April 9 and April 23, 2025 was the implementation date.

7. SG Fleet (SGF): went public with a non-binding offer from private equity firm PEP pitched at $3.50 a share on November 25, 2024, and this quickly morphed into a 128 page scheme implementation deed on December 4 at the same price, which valued the equity at $1.227 billion. This means investors who paid $1.85 a share in the 2014 IPO have done well. The scheme meeting was a virtual on April 8 at 3pm Sydney time. See wrap of questions asked. The second court hearing was April 15, stock was suspended on April 16 and the scheme implementation date was April 30, 2025.

8. De Grey Mining (DEG): agreed to an all scrip takeover by bigger Perth-based gold rival Northern Star. They dropped this 150 page takeover agreement on December 2, 2024, along with this 37 page slide pack. By December 6, De Grey was
capitalised at $4.57 billion and Northern Star was worth $19 billion so a gold giant was being created and it only went higher with the surging price. They held a 2pm hybrid scheme meeting in Perth via Zoom on April 16 to vote on the deal. See 452 page scheme book released on March 11. See text of question asked at scheme meeting where the deal was comfortably approved with 99.6% of voted stock and 89.7% of voting shareholders. The second court hearing was on April 22 followed by the delisting and effective date on April 23.

May: 1

9. Dropsuite (DSE): the Melbourne-based company agreed to sell itself for $420m to Texas-based IT automation giant NinjaOne, which paid $5.90 a share, a 34% premium to the previous close of $4.40. The 117 page scheme implementation agreement dropped on January 28, the same day the deal was announced with no earlier public clues. The scheme meeting was an 11am hybrid in Melbourne on May 9 where the deal was comfortably approved. See wrap of 3 questions asked and 172 page scheme book released on April 2. The second court hearing was scheduled for May 14 which coincided with the last day of trading. The implementation date was May 30, 2025.

June: 1

10. Engenco (EGN): billionaire Dale Elphinstone launched a mop-up bid pitched at 30.5c a share which valued the whole company at around $100m. See 90 page Target statement released on May 9. He started with 65% on March 9 and the bid cracked 90% by mid June so they filed this compulsory acquisition notice on June 20 and the stock was suspended on June 27, 2025.

July: 4

11. The Reject Shop (TRS): agreed to a takeover from Canadian firm Dollarama, priced at a hefty 112% premium of $6.68 per share, which valued the equity at $259 million. See the scheme implementation agreement announced on March 27. The virtual scheme meeting was at 2.30pm on June 23 and saw the deal comfortably approved. The company first floated on June 1, 2004. Trading ceased on July 1, the 77c special dividend was paid on July 14 and the balance of $5.91 was paid on July 22, 2025. Turns out The Reject Shop brand is going to be retired by the new Canadian owners.

12. Spartan Resources (SPR): was acquired by fellow goldminer Ramelius Resources (RMS) to create a $4.2 billion giant focused on WA. See 152 page agreement announced on March 17, 2025. Ramelius offered 25c in cash and 0.6957 new Ramelius shares, implying a value of $1.78 per Spartan share. Spartan shareholders will own just under 40 per cent of the new company. Spartan shares closed at $1.985 on June 30, giving it a market cap of $2.52 billion. The hybrid scheme meeting was held on July 11 at 10am in Perth. See notice of meeting and wrap of the 20 minute meeting where lodged 4 written questions. Second court hearing was July 21, with ASX trading ceasing when the scheme became effective the following day. The record date was July 24 and shareholders got their 25c in cash and Ramelius shares on the July 31 implementation date.

13. AV Jennings (AVJ): announced an unsolicited 67c share offer at its November AGM from two private offshore investment groups with existing operations in Australia and immediately agreed. Not much more emerged after the original 5 page announcement on November 28 and then a competing 70c offer was lodged by Ho Bee Land on January 15. Ho Bee Land was granted confidentiality on January 19 and on February 3 AV Jennings advised that the rival AVID Group was continuing to confidentially scrutinise the books. On April 1 it entered into a scheme implementation deed to sell the business for 65.5c per share to PM Nominees, a joint venture between AVID Group and Proprium Capital Partners. It listed in January 1994 and the equity is being sold for $340m. Scheme meeting was a hybrid in Sydney at 3pm on July 11. There was also a separate EGM to fast track the CEO's $2.2m incentive vesting. See text of 7 questions asked across both meetings. No material protest votes. The second court hearing was on July 23, 2025 and the effective date July 24, when ASX trading ceased. The special dividend record date was July 29 for an August 6 payment and the scheme record date was August 11 for an August 14 payment.

14. Hutchison Telecommunications (HTA): the Hong Kong parent company launched a mop-up bid to buy the remaining 12.12% at 3.2c per share. This bidder statement was lodged on May 22, 2025 and HTA appointed an independent board committee comprising Justin Gardener and John Scanlon but there was no agreement at that point. The 2024 annual report said HTA had 5,151 shareholders and it had already moved to 88.48% thanks to some early acceptances. There are 13.572 billion shares on issue so the richest man in Asia, Li Ka-shing, is effectively offering $52.6 million to mop up a business which has amassed accumulated losses of $4.25 billion and claims to have net assets of only $23.8 million. One of the largest retail shareholders, Jim Piliouras, ran a campaign to push for a higher bid and publicly called for Spark NZ, the second largest shareholder with 10%, to reject the offer. The 135 page target statement was released on June 10. Spark announced it was accepting the offer on June 23, so that was the ball game. The offer closed on July 7 and they lodged this compulsory acquisition notice with the ASX on July 15, leading to the stock being suspended on July 22 and removed from the official list on July 25, 2025.

August: 5

15. Silk Logistics (SLH): on November 11, 2024 it announced an agreed deal with DP World priced at $2.14 per share, a 45.6% premium to the previous close. The 3 largest shareholders collectively signed up to accept for their combined 46% stake. The company offered around $160m and the ACCC was concerned, releasing this statement of issues on March 13, 2025. On December 23 the scheme book was released and March 7 was announced as the scheme meeting date, before the ACCC got involved. The later March 28 scheme meeting date was also pushed back due to the regulatory delays. The ACCC then set July 10 as its latest deadline for making a decision and the scheme meeting was again delayed until July 19. ACCC approval finally came through on July 4. Was a physical scheme meeting at 10am in Melbourne on August 1, 2025 where the deal was comfortably approved. See updated notice of meeting. The second court date, scheme effective date and end of ASX trading all occurred on August 6 and the scheme implementation date was August 18, 2025.

16. Domain (DHG): US real estate giant Costar was first reported to be looking to bid $4.20 per share on February 20, 2025. The first announcement by the company said Co-Star had secured a 16.9% stake and confirmed the $4.20 offer price. Nine responded 3 hours later pointing out that Domain was "of strategic importance to Nine's media eco-system and our long term growth strategy". CoStar lifted its bid to $4.43 on March 27 and was granted access to the books and on March 31 Nine agreed to the deal, subject to due diligence. After being demerged by Fairfax Media in November 2017, Domain is set to change hands for about $2.8 billion in cash for the equity. The scheme implementation agreement dropped on May 5. The 211 page scheme book dropped on June 30, 2025 and the hybrid scheme meeting was held in Sydney at 10am on August 4 via the Link/MUFG platform. No protest votes. The second court hearing was August 6, effective date and end of trading was August 7 and the scheme implementation date was August 27, 2025.

17. Envirosuite (EVS): agreed to a takeover at 9c a share which valued the equity at $132m. See 133 page scheme agreement with UK firm Ideagen which was released on May 12, 2025. The latest balance sheet shows accumulated losses of $105.3 million and net equity of $89 million, so investors as a whole are not getting all of their money back from this takeover. Also, see Alan Kohler's 2021 interview with the CEO. The scheme meeting was a 9am virtual affair Melbourne time on August 1 via the Lumi platform. See 318 page scheme book. The second court hearing was August 8, the effective date and end of ASX trading was August 11 and the implementation date was August 20, 2025.

18. New World Resources (NWC): the aspiring US copper miner entered into a $185m scheme agreement on May 21, 2025 with Central Asia Metals Plc (CAML) based on a bid pitched at 5c per share. The latest balance sheet shows accumulated losses of $101.2 million and net equity of $76.8 million so investors are collectively broadly getting their money back. After a rival shareholder Kinterra snapped up 12% and lobbed a complaint with the Takeovers Panel, CAML lifted its offer to 5.3c and made some on-market purchases. Kinterra then lodged an offer at 5.7c, prompting CAML to lift its bid to 6.2c. On July 10, Kinterra went to 6.3c so this was quite an auction which eventually finished with Kinterra prevailing at 6.7c. It was through 70% by August 4. The compulsory acquisition notice landed on August 14 and it was delisted on August 26, 2025.

19. Sayona Mining (SYA): completed a $40m conditional placement at 3.2c, a discount to the previous close of 3.5c, as a precursor to its all-scrip merger with Piedmont Lithium to create a bigger Canadian lithium play, as The AFR's Street Talk column explained in this well-briefed deal leak. As part of the deal, on November 20 Piedmont Lithium (PLL) also completed a $40m conditional placement at 16.8c. The deal was only subject to Sayona shareholder approval and Piedmont's shares rose to 18.7c after the announcement suggesting it might have got the better of the negotiations. See this 162 page merger agreement lodged on November 19. Puzzled by this termination of a $200m equity facility announcement. They announced these amendments to the merger agreement on April 23, 2025. The hybrid scheme meeting was held at 10am on July 31, 2025. See scheme booklet. Was comfortably approved. Will remain listed and trade as Elevra Lithium after a name change. However, the Piedmont shareholder meeting was adjourned on August 12 because they only achieved 47% support and Canadian law requires more than 50% of outstanding stock to vote in favour. It was later approved and the takeover completed on August 29, 2025.

September: 5

20. Adriatic Metals PLC (ADT): announced an agreed $US1.25 billion takeover by Canada's Dundee Precious Metals Inc on June 13, 2025. Macquarie advised Adriatic and Australia's L1 Capital was a key fund which helped green light the deal. See Reuters coverage. The market cap was $1.9b in June 2025. The 240 page scheme book dropped on July 15 and the physical scheme meeting was held at 3pm in London on August 11. Was comfortably approved. Shares ceased trading on the ASX on August 28, the second court date was August 29 and the scheme record date was September 1, 2025.

21. Mac Copper (MAC): The AFR's Street Talk column reported on May 27 that an offshore bid was coming and it landed later that day with Harmony Gold offering $1.6 billion in cash or $14.26 per CDI listed on the ASX. See 88 page binding bid implementation agreement lodged on May 26, 2025. The stock was at $18.61 by June 16. The Jersey Court ordered a meeting for August 29 to approve the deal. Was the only person asking questions at the scheme meeting where the deal was comfortably approved.

22. Brickworks (BKW): Soul Pattinson proposed taking over its long term sibling in a proposal to create a $14 billion conglomerate which required approval from both sets of shareholders. The AFR's Street Talk column broke the news on the $500m raise for the proposed new company at 8.20am on June 2 2025 and the details then dropped at 8.47am but the $550m of equity in a new corporate vehicle wasn't actually stumped up until the merger was approved. See 140 page agreement between the companies. The combination documents were released on August 4. See 419 pages from Brickworks and 344 pages from Soul Patts. Both meetings were held on September 10 in Sydney with Brickworks first with a 9am physical EGM at the Fullerton Hotel, followed by Soul Patts at the same venue with an 11am physical EGM. Both sets of shareholders voted strongly in favour and the deal completed on September 23, 2025. The combined market cap was $14.2b in early 2026 about the stock retreated to below $38 after hitting a high of almost $45 in September 2025.

23. Peak Rare Earths (PEK): a Chinese company agreed to buy the aspiring Tanzania miner for $150m initially. They increased the offer to $195m or 44.3c per share on September 5. See 13 slide presentation lodged with ASX on May 15, 2025. The latest balance sheet shows accumulated losses of $128.2 million and net equity of $73 million so investors are collectively still slightly behind after the takeover. The stock was trading at 12c when the initial 36c offer was lodged so they ended up paying almost 4 times the undisturbed price. On July 25 it advised that the bidding vehicle was now registered in Singapore so no more approvals were required from the Peoples Republic of China. The physical scheme meeting was at 10.30am in Sydney on September 16 where the deal was comfortably approved. The 318 page scheme book dropped on August 18. Trading ceased on September 19 and the scheme was implemented on September 30, 2025.

24. Platinum Asset Management (PTM): Regal Partners (RPL) launched a hostile scrip takeover bid on September 17 2024 which was all scrip besides a 24c full franked special dividend. They signed a confidentiality agreement on October 4 2024 with a view to increasing the offer and rival Wilson Asset Management also engaged with the takeover process, according to this November 12 AFR Street Talk column. Platinum copped huge protest votes at the 2024 AGM as founder and largest shareholder Kerr Neilson threw his weight around. See package of the action. Platinum continues to suffer from heavy funds outflow and at the time had a market cap of $666m compared with $1.27 billion for Regal, which was offering 0.274 Regal shares for each Platinum share which would dilute Kerr Neilson's 21.5% stake in Platinum down to around 10% of Regal if he voted in favour and delivered the deal, making him the second biggest shareholder after Regal founder Phil King. Geoff Wilson was the first to walk and then Regal bailed on December 9. See how Platinum framed the end of discussions. Stock was down at just 70c on February 14, 2025, capitalising the business at $413m. On May 1, Platinum announced it was in merger discussions with L1 Capital which had bought a 9.6% stake off founder Kerr Neilson with an option to go to 19.9% if a competing merger proposal was lodged. L1 then moved and bought 17% of separately listed Platinum Capital and killed off a delisting plan. See wrap of that meeting. A Platinum-L1 merger vote was held via Computershare at 9.30am on September 22 as a hybrid in Sydney. See notice of meeting and text of 6 questions asked at that 71 minute EGM. It was comfortably approved and the combined group now trades as L1 Group (L1G) so in a sense PTM is still listed but their shareholders collectively own less than 30% of the enlarge L1/Platinum Group.

October: 3

25. Gold Road Resources (GOR): South African giant Goldfields lobbed a $2.27 per share non-binding offer late on March 24 2025 which the board rejected. The stock immediately traded above this level, although there was complexity with the De Grey shareholding proposal. Chair Tim Netscher sent this interesting letter to shareholders on March 27 detailing all the back and forth between the joint venture partners. They eventually agreed to an offer on May 5 which was the equivalent of $3.40 a share or $3.7 billion for the equity. The scheme meeting was a hybrid in Perth at 2pm on September 22 where the deal was comfortably approved and I asked these 3 questions. It was removed from the official ASX list on October 15, 2025.

26. Johns Lyng Group (JLG): The AFR revealed on June 10 2025 at 8.55am that private equity firm PEP was doing due diligence on an agreed takeover and this immediately halted trading in the shares. The paper also revealed on March 3 this year that two other private equity firms, KKR and EQT, had done due diligence on a deal in 2024 but failed to agree terms. The market cap was just below $800 million when the story broke so any deal would likely to be valued at closer to $1 billion. On June 11, JLG released the PEP exclusivity deed which PEP sent through on May 16 but the disclosure did not include an indicative price, which sparked this feisty Chanticleer column. The stock rose 15% in response. On July 11, the parties announced a 75 page scheme implementation deed at $4 per share, with some interesting terms for CEO and largest shareholder Scott Didier who has the option to roll into the bid vehicle, a special deal which got a solid run in The AFR's Street Talk column on August 13. The 278 page scheme book was released on September 2 and the scheme meeting is hybrid on October 8 at Minter Ellison in Melbourne. It was comfortably approved.

27. Smart Pay (SMP): agreed to sell itself to a US payment processing company for $1.20 per share in a deal which valued the equity at $274m. See scheme implementation agreement released on June 23, 2025. Was approved at October 14 scheme meeting and stock was suspended on October 29, 2025.

November: 2

28. Pacific Smiles (PSQ): The action started on December 18 2023 when Genesis Capital lobbed a $1.40 per share bid and disclosed it had acquired an 18.8% stake. Its two founders originally hailed from Crescent Capital which then entered the fray driving up the price. Co-founder Alex Abrahams was the kingmaker in the buyout battle, initially refusing to disclose how he would vote his 12.6% stake. See Chanticleer column. The original scheme meeting was scheduled for August 1 2024 but then delayed until August 8 as the rival bids kept coming, finishing at $2.05 per share from Crescent on August 1, which Genesis still didn't accept without saying it would go higher again. The Crescent proposal was comfortably defeated with 36.7% of voted stock opposing it, meaning Genesis wasn't alone. Genesis then returned to the fray with a $1.90 takeover bid on September 17 2024 which included the option for shareholders to roll into a bid vehicle, but this was rebuffed by the board. It was then marginally sweetened and was expected to close on November 29 but was then extended to December 12 after it secured control when HBF accepted for its 10% stake, as Street Talk noted on November 29. Genesis effectively moved to control on November 22 and on November 29 it was announced that it would move to board control after the December 16 board meeting. The founder Alex Abrahams is still holding out but the bidder had secured 88.2% by December 16 with the offer scheduled to close on January 16 before it was extended again until January 30 and again until February 13. Was up to 89.2% by January 29 but no further progress since then so the results were released as usual in late February and they trade on. Launched an unmarketable parcels offer in June 2025 which you could only accept and not reject via the Automic platform, which was odd and resulted in 97 holders being paid $1.69 per share or $14,39 in total. Why bother? On October 10, an offer pitched at $2.20 per share was announced for the 10.7% it didn't own so the holdouts led by founder Alex Abrahams ended up being rewarded for their hard ball tactics, receiving 15.8% more than the maximum $1.90 per share paid to any other accepting shareholder. Was removed from the official list on November 5, 2025 after compulsory acquisition completed a nearly two year takeover battle. It looks like only one shareholder voted at the final AGM held on October 31, 2025.

29. Lynch Group (LGL): private equity agreed to pay $280m for Australia's biggest flower supplier, as was lamented by The AFR's Chanticleer column. The $2.245 per offer was announced on August 20. The stock was at $2.11 on September 2. Scheme meeting is on November 21 and the takeover was comfortably approved. See scheme book. Shares stopped trading on November 28, 2025.

December: 2

30. Infomedia (IFM): private equity firm TPG swooped to on the automotive software company with a $651 million agreed bid in August 2025 pitched at $1.72 per share – a 30% premium to its previous close. The 118 page scheme agreement dropped on August 6 and the 326 page scheme book landed on October 7. After a 25-year run on the ASX, shareholders approved the deal at the November 18 scheme meeting with 99.55% of voted stock in favour with 263 holdings voting yes and 37 voting against. The last annual report said it has 4,655 shareholders so the turnout rate of 300 was a miserable 6.4%. Shareholders contributed $108.6m and net assets were only $143.3m in the final account so lots of value was created. Was removed from the ASX lists on December 3 and shareholders were paid the final $1.671 per share on December 1, 2025

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2024 - 29 completed deals which saw delistings roll out on a monthly basis as follows

January 2024: no delistings

February 2024: 1 delisting

1. Costa Group: CGC (9 years, 2015-2024): Melbourne based and floated by the Costa family and its private equity partner Paine in 2015 and then Paine returned to privatise the business with a $1.6 billion bid in July 2023, supported by Driscoll and one other player. The scheme meeting approving the deal was held on January 30, 2024. The proxies were disclosed early with formal addresses and trading was suspended on February 8 and shareholders were paid on February 26 before it was delisted the next day on February 27, 2024.

March: no delistings

April 2024: 2 delistings

2. A2B Corp: (A2B) (25 years, 1999-2024): the old Sydney-based Cabcharge was founded by Reg Kermode in 1976 and floated in 1999. Was renamed A2B Corporation in 2018 and then taken private by Singaporean company ComfortDelGro in 2024 for the equivalent of $2.30 per share or $182 million, by which time the business had shrunk to a fraction of its former glory. The 245 page scheme book was released on February 21 and the scheme meeting comfortably approved the deal on March 25 in Sydney at The Mint. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses. The shares stopped trading on April 2, with settlement on April 11, the day the scheme became legally effective, and it was delisted the next day on April 12, 2024.

3. Boart Longyear: BLY (2007-2024): The scheme meeting to approve a $543 million US private equity takeover took place on February 21 at 10am. The shares were suspended on April 5 with shareholders paid on April 10 before it was delisted the next day on April 11, 2025. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses. Head quarters was nominally at Adelaide Airport in last few years.

May 2024: 5 delistings

4. Orecorp (ORR): after a bidding war against SilverCorp, Perseus Mining secured the Africa-focused miner with a cash and scrip bid valuing the equity at around $280 million or 57.5c. It was a conventional bid, not a scheme. The compulsory acquisition notice was sent out on April 19 when Orecorp had 95% of Perseus and it was removed from the official list on May 2, 2024. The Persues market cap had soared to $7.75 billion by early 2026, so this was a great deal.

5. Azure (AZS): (2003-2024) initially floated in November 2003 when it raised $15 million at 25c. The Perth-based lithium company was then bought by Gina Rinehart and Chilean giant SQM in a joint $1.7 billion cash offer priced at $3.70 a share. The 292 page scheme book landed on March 4 and the scheme meeting was a physical only affair on April 8 at the Celtic Club in Perth. The deal was approved by 98.4% of voted stock with 87% of voting shareholders in favour although this only amounted to 517 voting yes and 78 voting against, a poor turnout when the last annual report claimed it had 6,681 shareholders. The shares stopped trading on May 2 and shareholders were paid on May 9 but it wasn't delisted until May 21, 2024. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

6. Volpara Health Technologies (VHT): an agreed takeover of the Wellington-based company by larger South Korea rival Lunit Inc which valued the equity at $296m. See scheme book. Hybrid scheme meeting was held on April 12, 2024. See text of 3 questions asked. Kiwi law requires schemes to be approved by more than 75% of voted stock and 50% of total stock and the respective results were 97% and 68%. The stock was suspended on May 3 and shareholders were paid on May 21, the day before it was delisted on May 22, 2024.

7. Link Group, (9 years, 2015-2024) Japanese giant Mitsubishi agreed to pay $2.16 per share or $2.1 billion in enterprise terms after years of poor performance, much of which was associated with its UK division. The share registry and investor services business was floated at $6.37 per share in October 2015. However, when you add back the performance of PEXA, which was spun off in 2021, the performance wasn't as bad. The hybrid scheme meeting was held at 3pm on April 24 in Sydney at the Four Seasons and was approved by 99% of voted stock and 85% of voting shareholders. Shareholders were paid on May 16 and the stock was delisted on May 17 after being suspended on May 1, 2024. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

8. Newmark Property REIT (NPR): the Bunnings focused BWP Trust successfully bid $250 million for fellow Bunnings landlord Newmark and reached 90% on April 24 before the offer closed on May 17, after compulsory acquisition had been started. Was suspended from trade on May 21 and removed from the official list on May 23, 2025. The following year BWP restructured and internalised its management, completely separating from sponsor Wesfarmers.

June 2024: 3 delistings

9. Tietto Minerals (TIE): floated in 2017 when it raised $7.5m at 20c then successfully developed its Sierra Leone gold project and was taken over in 2024 in a deal which valued the company at $774m on AGM day on May 24, 2024. The Chinese predator Zhoujin Mining, first emerged with 7% when it offered 58c a share in October 2023. This was increased to 68c on April 24, 2024 and they moved to compulsory acquisition on May 24 having reached 90.7% when the offer closed on May 14. The stock was suspended on May 31 and it was removed from the official list on June 6, 2024. Given the subsequent surge in the gold price, the Chinese bidder got a steal.

10. Silver Lake Resources (SLR) (17 years, 2007-2024): raised $30 million in a 2007 float priced at 30c and was set to be acquired by fellow goldminer Red 5 in an all-scrip "merger of equals" in early 2024 which valued the 934m shares on issue at $1.12 billion the day after it was announced. The merger implementation agreement dropped with the announcement on February 5. Scheme meeting was held on May 31 in Perth. Shares were suspended on June 7 when the scheme became effective. It was approved by 97% of voted stock and 79% of voting shareholders. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses. It was delisted on June 20, the day after the scheme was implemented and shares transferred on June 19, 2024.

11. Probiotec (PBP): Owns 6 pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Australia and agreed to a takeover by Indonesian company PT Pyridam Farma Tbk which valued the business at around $260 million. Grant Thornton valued the business at between $2.78 and $3.29, which fell within the $3 per share bid price. See scheme implementation agreement. Hybrid scheme meeting took place in Melbourne at 10am on May 29, 2024. Was comfortably approved and suspended from trade on June 5. Shareholders were paid on June 18 and it was delisted the next day on June 19. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

July 2024: 6 delistings

12. Boral (BLD): Seven Group launched a mop-up bid on February 19 comprising $1.50 in cash and total value of $6.25 a share, based on the value of Seven Group shares at the time of the bid. It was said to be a final bid and there were heavy handed de-listing threats. The independent directors recommended against, with the backing of an independent experts report from Grant Samuel which valued Boral shares at between $6.50 and $7.13 when the implied value of Seven's mop up offer was only $6.07. The offer was then sweetened on April 12, winning board endorsement. Shareholders were guaranteed a minimum $1.70 in cash, a 26c fully franked dividend was paid on April 26, costing $286m and they also announced a buyback of up 55 million shares to try and get to the 90% compulsory acquisition threshold. It worked. Seven Group started with 71.6%, the buyback topped $100 million and at one point finished up with 95.22% before later dropping back due to some exchangeable note conversions. On May 31, Seven extended the closing date until June 28 as it hit 92.9%, so the stock was suspended from trade after close of business on June 6 because the compulsory acquisition notice was issued on May 30. The final compulsory acquisition occurred on July 4, diluting Kerry Stokes down to 50.93% of Seven Group. Boral was delisted on July 5, 2024. SGH shares subsequently surged after it pushed through big price increases for concrete, which it's "competitors" matched. SGH is now going after Bluescope Steel.

13. Adbri (ABC): Irish concrete giant CRH teamed up with controlling shareholder Barro Group to lodge a $3.20 a share bid which was supported by the independent directors. The AGM was scheduled for Friday, May 24 but they received an exemption from ASIC to hold it in conjunction with the June 12 scheme meeting at 10.30am in Adelaide with an implementation date of July 1, 2024. It was a physical meeting with no online voting or questions. The company has around 17,000 retail shareholders but there was no material opposition. The stock was suspended from trade on June 17, shareholders were paid on July 1 and Adbri was removed from the official list on July 2, 2024. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

14. CSR: French building materials giant Saint Gobain lobbed a $9 a share bid worth $4.3 billion on February 22, securing due diligence. The stock rocketed 17% to $7.95 after a leak before trade was halted. Embarrassing. The $9 deal was agreed on February 26 and the scheme meeting was held on 9am on June 13 in Sydney, with no material opposition. See scheme book. The company has around 51,000 retail shareholders but only about 6,000 voted on the takeover. The stock was suspended on June 19, shareholders were paid on July 9 and the stock was delisted on July 10, 2024. Puzzled why there was a 20 day wait for payment after the suspension. The proxies were not disclosed early with the formal addresses.

15. QV Equities (QVE): WAM Leaders secured agreement for a $215 million scrip or cash takeover. The hybrid scheme meeting in Sydney started at 10am on June 28, 2024. See text of 6 questions lodged and scheme book. Was approved by around 92% on both metrics. The stock was suspended on July 4, shareholders got paid on July 8 and it was delisted on July 16. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

16. TASK (TSK): the restaurant technology company only shifted its HQ and primary listing to Australia in 2023 and now it is being taken over by NYSE listed rival PAR Technology in a $310 million deal announced with a full scheme implementation agreement on March 11, 2024. See our 10 questions at last year's final New Zealand AGM. The scheme book dropped on May 28 and the virtual scheme meeting was scheduled to start at 11am on June 28 Sydney time, but was then adjourned on the day. Ended up being comfortably approved. Trading was suspended on July 10 and shareholders got paid on July 19, 2024. It was delisted on July 22. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

17. MMA Offshore (MRM): the board agreed to sell the business for $2.60 a share or $1.03 billion (plus debt) in a deal with Cyan Renewables, a portfolio company of Singapore-based private equity outfit Seraya Partners. The pricing was a skinny 11% premium to the previous close, hence major shareholder Pendal went public and slammed the board for agreeing to an “absolute steal”, which may have contributed to the 10c increase to $2.70 per share announced on June 20. The scheme implementation agreement dropped on March 25 and the physical scheme meeting was in Perth on July 1, 2024. The independent expert valued the business at between $2.03 and $2.83 a share. The final votes were 92% support from voted stock and 65% support from the voting shareholders. Trading was suspended on July 11 and shareholders were paid on July 25, 2024. The stock was delisted on July 26. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses.

August 2024: 4 delistings

18. Altium (ALU): (25 years, 1999-2024) After floating as Protel International at $2 a share in August 1999 when 38% of the business was sold for $46.5 million, the electronics software maker reached agreement on February 14, 2024 for Japanese company Renesas to acquire the company at $68.50 a share or $9.1 billion in cash. The scheme meeting was a physical affair at 9am in Sydney at 9am on July 12 and deal was approved with support from 99.8% of voted stock and 96.7% of voting shareholders after 2,023 voted in favour and just 114 voted against. See scheme implementation agreement. Shareholders were paid on August 1 and the scheme become effective on July 19, when the stock ceased trading. The proxies were disclosed early with the formal addresses and it was delisted on August 2, 2024.

19. Genex (GNX): Japanese firm JPower offered 27.5c which the board accepted on April 12, 2024. See sale agreement. Market cap was $380m at the time. The scheme meeting was a genuine hybrid via Lumi at 10am on July 16, 2024. See full scheme document. The proxies were disclosed early and showed an 8.6% against vote. The final poll showed 94.9% support by voted shares and 76.44% by the shareholder metric with 850 in favour and 262 against. Shareholders were paid on July 31, the stock stopped trading on July 22 and it was removed from the official list on August 1, 2024.

20. Alumina (AWC): (22 years, 2002-2024): was demerged out of WMC in late 2002 and then Alcoa of America finally launched its long predicted mop-up bid in February 2024, but were only offering their own shares and no cash. Alcoa became dual listed on the ASX, a bit like the way Newcrest shareholders could swap into Newmont which is also listed on the ASX. The scheme implementation agreement was announced on March 12 and the scheme meeting was held on July 18. They announced this amendment on May 21 which would limit Chinese giant CITIC to 4.5% of Alcoa's voting stock in order not to breach US laws which limit investors in US banks from owning more than 5% of US public companies. Failed to disclose the proxies early with the formal addresses and only secured CITIC's public support on the day, which ended up delivering a solid mandate with 99.77% of voted stock in favour and 87.5% of the voting shareholders (1,598 for and 227 against out of circa 52,000). See text of 6 online questions asked at 45 minute scheme meeting. Alumina shareholders received their Alcoa CDI on August 1 and the stock was delisted on August 2, 2024.

21. QANTM Intellectual Property Limited (QIP): floated on the ASX in 2016 when it raised $31.7m at $2.22. Joined the ASX exodus on July 31, 2024 when shareholders voted in favour of a bid from Adamantem Capital valuing the equity in the business at $255m or $1.817 per share. A maximum of 24% of shares on issue were made available for those wishing to roll into the bid vehicle and remain exposed to the intellectual property business. Shareholders were paid on August 19, 2024. The final balance sheet showed $2.7m of accumulated losses and $300m of issued capital, most of it accounted for in reserves, so investors made around $50m overall.

September 2024: 1

22. Ansarada Group: the Brisbane-based software as a service provider wracked up $54m in accumulated losses over the journey as a public company but was privatised in August 2024 in a deal which valued the equity at around $250 million with fund manager CapVest buying most of the business and CEO carving out Samuel Riley taking part of it. Claimed to have net assets of $48 million at the time of the deal so created more than $200m in value for shareholders. The 337 page scheme book was released on April 14, shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour on August 21, shares were suspended on August 28 and shareholders were paid on September 6.

October 2024: 5

23. Virgin Money (VUK): includes the old NAB UK business and received a $5.7b cash offer from Britain's largest building society, Nationwide, priced at £2.20 a share, a 38% premium to the previous close. The business is two thirds owned by Australian shareholders courtesy of being demerged by NAB in 2016. It later merged with Virgin Money in 2018. The scheme meeting vote was held on May 22 in London and was approved by 89.3% of voted stock even though only 433 shareholders bothered to vote. After competition approval was received on July 22, they predicted a December quarter close on the deal and were booted from the ASX200 on September 26. The shares stopped trading on September 30 and the scheme became effective on October 1, when it was delisted from the ASX impacting more than 50,000 Australian retail shareholders.

24. Base Resources (BSE): the Australian-based and Africa-focused critical minerals company agreed to a $375 million largely scrip takeover offer from US company Energy Fuels. The stock was last traded at 10.5c and shareholders will receive a 6.5c dividend and then Energy Fuels shares which they claim lift the total consideration to 30.2c per share, or a premium of 188%. Yes, but that depends on where the Energy Fuels share price goes. The 452 page scheme book landed on August 2 and the virtual scheme meeting was held on September 5, generating negligible against votes. The implementation date was October 2. Santos chair Keith Spence was chair for 6 years until 2021 and the final balance sheet showed $28m of accumulated losses and $258m of net equity, so investors made almost $100m overall.

25. APM Human Services (APM): Chicago-based private equity firm and 29% shareholder Madison Dearborn submitted a privatisation proposal after earlier floating the business at $3.55 a share in a disastrous IPO for public investors. They came back with a firm offer at $1.40 a share which required key management to stay with the business and roll over into the bid vehicle, a feature which is proposed for other institutional shareholders. Eventually, the board endorsed an offer at $1.45 per share. The scheme meeting was a virtual affair on September 18 which featured appalling question censorship when the question wrangler protected all of the key brass from answering questions. Sadly, I was the only shareholder trying to ask questions. A majority of the shares on issue elected to roll into the bid vehicle. The stock was suspended on September 25 and the scheme will be implemented on October 10.

26. PSC Insurance (PSI): announced an agreed takeover by PE-owned Ardonagh Group (which is 50% Madison Dearborn which features above) on May 8 which values the business at $2.43 billion after it agreed to pay $6.19 in cash per share, a 32.7% premium to the previous close of $4.50. The Manningham-based business only floated in 2015 after raising $43m at $1 a share so well done to all involved. The scheme book was only 240 pages and the hybrid scheme meeting was held at 9.30am on September 26 in Melbourne with no material protest votes but appalling censorship again with only 1 of the 6 questions dealt with, although the CEO later emailed through some answers. The stock was suspended after trading closed on October 2 and the scheme will be implemented on October 11.

27. Rex Minerals (RXM): floated in 2007 when it raised $7m at 25c and 17 years later the Adelaide-based company has agreed to sell itself to MACH Metals, which is controlled by Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim. The offer was pitched at 47c a share which values the equity at $393m. The key asset is the Hillside copper-gold mine in South Australia which is expected to cost almost $900m to develop. MACH is already the largest shareholder with a 15.8% stake. See 75 page sale agreement. The 256 page scheme book landed on September 4 and the physical only scheme meeting is in Melbourne at 10am on October 10. The effective date is October 16 and the implementation date is October 30, so it was delisted on October 31. Copper-focused BHP should arguably have bought this business.

November 2024: 0

December 2024: 2

28. Anteris Technologies (AVR): The Brisbane-based "structural heart company" floated on the ASX in March 2004 when it raised $5m at 20c. The $200m redomicile to Delaware and US IPO was first announced on August 13 and the 282 page scheme book was released on September 9, 2024. The scheme was approved by the Queensland Supreme Court on December 4. The scheme became effective on December 5, the same day trading was suspended. The record date for payment will be December 9. The scheme meeting was held on December 3 with 97.66% share support but a poor turnout with just 153 shareholders in favour and 24 against. The latest annual report says it had 5,783 shareholders, so the 3% turnout was pretty poor. They then released this 30 page supplementary scheme book on December 16.

29. Capitol Health (CAJ): the Andrew Demetriou chaired imaging diagnostics company agreed to a merger proposal from Integral Diagnostics (IDL) on June 17 which will see 2 CAJ directors join the expanded board and the CAJ CEO secure a 2 year extension of his contract. The combined company will have a market cap of around $850 million. See merger implementation agreement. This update on September 2 explained that the ACCC is having a look and the 280 page scheme book landed on September 24. The scheme meeting was originally a physical affair at 11.30am in Melbourne on October 31 but was delayed until December 2. It was comfortably approved on both metrics despite some hiccups in securing ACCC approval. The Federal Court approved the scheme on December 10 after ACCC approval came through and the stock was suspended on December 11. The payment by shares was made on December 13 with the scheme officially implemented on Friday, December 20 and the stock was removed from the ASX on December 23.

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2023 - 11 deals with more to be added

Blackmores, (38 years, 1985-2023): founded in 1938 by Maurice Blackmore, listed in 1985 and then taken over by Japanese giant Kirin after a $1.9 billion takeover bid which completed in July 2023.

Estia Health (9 years, 2014-2023): originally floated in 2014 when it raised $725 million at $5.25 a share in a Quadrant driven private equity roll-up and flip. After woeful performance, it was then privatised by private equity firm Bain on December 15 2023 in a deal which valued the equity at $3.20 a share or $828 million. Its market cap peaked at $1.4 billion in 2015-16 when the shares topped $7 but then crashed during COVID so this was a dud for public investors who endured the full 9 year public journey.

Invocare, (20 years, 2003-2023): the death industry giant agreed to a takeover by US private equity firm TPG. It was floated in 2003 at $1.85 a share raising $186 million for the equity so the $1.8 billion offer at $12.70 per share was a good exit for those who stuck around for the full 20 year journey on the ASX.

Mincor Resources (1997-2023): listed in 1997 as AfricWest Gold before later pivoting to nickel. Billionaire Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest privatised the nickel miner in July 2023, paying $1.40 a share or $760 million in cash.

Mortgage Choice (MOC): REA took them over in 2023, offering $244 million or $1.95 per share to expand its financial services and digital mortgage offerings. Never attended AGM.

Newcrest Mining (NCM): The last big gold miner standing agreed to be taken over by Denver-based US giant Newmont in an all-scrip offer valued at $29 billion which completed on November 6, 2023.

OZ Minerals, (15 years, 2008-2023): was created from the 2007 merger of Oxiana Resources and Zinifex but then almost collapsed after the GFC when most of its assets were sold to CCP-controlled entities. Was left with the fabulous Prominent Hill copper gold mine which BHP bought for almost $10 billion when it paid $28.50 a share for the company in 2023.

Pendal, (16 years, 2007-2023): initially partially floated by Westpac as BT Investment Management in 2007, then after the bank fully exited it changed its name and was taken over by rival Perpetual in a $2.4 billion deal after a lengthy battle which finally settled in January 2023. Most observers believe Perpetual overpaid.

Slater and Gordon, (16 years, 2007-2023): never officially collapsed as was rescued in a scheme of arrangement but the final full year result was a $546.8 million loss in 2016-17 and this followed a $1.017 billion loss in 2015-16. Did a massive debt for equity swap to stay listed before Allegro privatised it in 2023.

United Malt, (3 years, 2020-2023): was spun out of Graincorp in 2020 but then snapped up by Soufflet Group, a private French company controlled by the Soufflet family when it offered $5 a share or $1.5 billion in July 2023.

Vango Mining (VAN): traded as Ord River (ORD) until a 2014 name change and then Vango was taken over by Catalyst Metals in 2023 with an all scrip offer which at the time was valued at $66m but has since soared about 10 fold. Indeed, Vango shareholders received 35.7% of the enlarged Catalyst (CYL), which has since ridden the gold boom and was capitalised at $1.91 billion in early 2026.

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2022 - 9 deals with more to be added

Ausnet Services, (17 years, 2005-2022): originally floated as SP Ausnet by Singapore Power in 2005 when it raised $1.6 billion at $1.38 after aggregating some privatised gas and electricity utilities. Changed its name to Ausnet after the Singaporeans sold a 20% stake to the Chinese Government's State Grid and was then taken private by Brookfield in February 2022 in a deal which valued the business at more than $15 billion, including debt.

Coca Cola Amatil, (49 years, 1972-2021): taken over by sister company Coca Cola Enterprises in May 2021 with an offer of $13.50 a share which valued the business at $9.8 billion.

Crown Resorts/PBL, (30 years, 1992-2022): effectively started with Kerry Packer's 1992 IPO of ACP Magazines which was then merged with Nine, which in turn was the rebranded Bond Media. Privatised by private equity giant Blackstone in June 2022 for about $9 billion.

Energy & Minerals Australia (EMA)/Vimy Resources(VMY): Changed it name to Vimy Resources in 2014 which was purchased by uranium player Deep Yellow (DYL) in 2022. Never attended AGM.

Leighton-CIMIC, 2022: was controlled by German giant Hochtief for decades as Wal King built it into an Australian giant, then Spanish rival ACS bought Hochtief and later fully privatised the renamed CIMIC in 2022.

Senex Energy (SXY): taken over by Korea's POSCO and Gina Rinehart at $4.60 a share in 2022 which valued the aspiring Queensland gas producer at about $860m. The final balance sheet showed $216m in accumulated losses and net assets of $345m so about $300m in value was created for shareholders.

Sydney Airport (SYD), (20 years, 2002-2022): floated by Macquarie in the early 2000s as Macquarie Airports then sold off everything except Sydney Airport which was privatised by a group of industry funds and international investors for more than $30 billion with an $8.75 a share bid in 2022.

Uniti Group, (3 years, 2019-2022): only floated in 2019 with an $18m raising at 25c, then undertook a blizzard of takeovers before the broadband networks owner fell to a consortium led by New Zealand's Morrison & Co and Canada's Brookfield Asset Management after they offered $3.6 billion or $5 a share in 2022.

Western Areas (WSA), (22 years, 2000-2022): floated at 20c in 2000 after $5m raising and was eventually taken over by nickel-lithium outfit IGO after protracted negotiations in a deal that valued the company at $1.3 billion. Were subsequently blasted by The AFR's Chanticleer for writing the investment down by $700m.

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2021 - 17 deals

5G Networks (5GN): Taken over by Webcentral in 2021 with a 2-for-1 offer. Owned but never attended AGM.

Aberdeen Leaders (ALR): Changed its name to Concentrated Leaders Fund (CLF) in 2018 and then WAM Capital took it over in 2021. Owned but never attended AGM.

Afterpay, 2021: Block Inc, the US payments company founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey (which used to be called Square), bought Afterpay in 2021 offering 18% of its own expanded share capital, although some analysts value the Afterpay business at zero. A good exit for a business that never made money, largely due to bad debts.

ALE Property Group (LEP), 2021: the pubs landlord was privatised in December 2021 after a joint bid by Charter Hall and industry fund HostPlus priced at $5.88 a share.

APN Property Group (APD): Held residual 10 shares until 90c Dexus takeover in 2021 which valued the equity at $320m. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $1.65m and net assets of $141.2m so they added about $150m in value overall.

Asaleo Care (AHY): was taken over in 2021 with a $1.40 per share offer from Essity.

Australian Pharmaceutical industries (API): Retained 1 share until Wesfarmers takeover at $1.65 per share or around $800m in 2021. Never attended AGM.

Bingo, (4 years, 2017-2021): floated by the founding Tartak family at $1.80 a share in 2017 and then privatised by a Macquarie fund in 2021 which paid $2.3 billion or $3.45 a share.

DWS Advanced Business Solutions (DWS): Retained 40 shares until 2021 takeover pitched at $1.20 per share. Never attended AGM.

Eservglobal (ESV): Changed named to Wameja (WJA) in 2019 and then Mastercard took it over offering the London dual listed company 8p a share in 2021 valuing the equity at almost $200 million. The final balance sheet as at June 30, 2021, showed accumulated losses of $188.7m and net assets of just $27.8m, but the takeover price recovered much of the losses.

Galaxy Resources, (15 years, 2006-2021): taken over by lithium rival Orocobre in a $4 billion all scrip deal in 2021 although it was a more a merger of equals with Galaxy shareholders finishing up with 45.8% of the new entity which traded as Allkem. Stock subsequently soared to a $10b+ market cap with Toyota as the only substantial shareholder with a 6.16% stake. Galaxy Resources was first floated in 2006 after raising $3m at 20c and Rio Tinto ended up buying Allkem for around $10 billion in 2024-25.

Japara Healthcare (JHC): The aged care provider was taken over by the Catholic Church in 2021.

Milton (MLT), (63 years, 1958-2021): mopped up by Soul Pattinson through an over the top all scrip $4 billion offer in 2021 which took out 29,000 shareholders. This happened just a year after I ran for the board, annoying billionaire chair Robert Millner who didn't control it.

Redflex Holdings (RDF): Retained 44 shares until 96c per share takeover in 2021 which valued the equity at $150m. The final balance sheet showed $67m in accumulated losses and $55m in net assets so investors were about $30 million in front overall.

Spark Infrastructure, (16 years, 2005-2021): floated in 2005 when the Chinese purchasers of privatisated state utility asset raised $1.81 billion at $2 a share. Was then privatised in December 2021 by private equity firm KKR and the Ontario Teachers fund with an offer pitched at $2.95 a share.

Tassal, (18 years, 2003-2021): floated at 50c a share in 2003 when it raised $31 million and eventually bought by Canadian fish giant Cooke Inc which paid $1.1 billon for Tasmanian-based salmon giant in 2021.

Vocus Communications, (22 years, 1999-2021): raised $20m at $1 a share when it listed in 1999 and then the telco was privatised by Macquarie and Aware Super after they lobbed an offer priced at $5.50 a share in 2021 which valued the business at $3.5 billion.

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2020 - 7 deals with more to be added

Citadel Group (CGL): Private equity firm PEP paid $5.70 per share in late 2020. Never made it to the scheme meeting.

CSG (CSV): Delisted in 2020 after Japanese firm Fuji Xerox completed a 31c takeover which valued the equity at around $140m. The final balance sheet in August 2019 showed accumulated losses of $152m and net assets of $100.8 so investors lose about $110m overall.

Infigen Energy, (15 years, 2005-2020): the old Babcock and Brown Wind was floated in 2005, changed its name to Infigen in 2009 and then bought by Spain's Iberdrola for $841 million in 2020 but it had traded higher.

Nearmap, (22 years, 2000-2022): floated in 2000 after raising $10m at 25c and then US private equity firm Thomas Bravo paid $2.10 a share or $1.05 billion, which at the time was nearly double the prevailing share price.

Oil Search (OSH), 2021: completed a $21 billion all-scrip merger with Santos in 2021 in which Oil Search shareholders finished up with 38.5% of the business. Three Oil Search directors joined the Santos board - Eileen Doyle, Musje Werror and Michael Utsler - whilst Susan Cunningham, Fiona Harris, Bakheet Al Katheeri, Kostas Constantinou and chairman Rick Lee all departed.

Village Roadshow (VRL), 2020: privatised by private equity firm BGH in 2020 after previously trading at much higher prices. The deal solved a dispute between the Kirby brothers, one of whom was taken out in the deal.

Webster Ltd (WBA): Taken over by a Canadian pension fund which paid $2 per share in 2020. Never attended AGM.

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2019 - 15 deals

APN Outdoor (APO): JC Decaux bought it at $6.40 per share in 2018. Never attended AGM.

Aveo, (25 years, 1998-2019): Canadian giant Brookfield plucked the large residential aged care business off the ASX boards in 2019 for a $2 billion enterprise valuation or a $1.3 billion equity value, swooping in with a 28 per cent premium at a time when its target was caving under regulatory scrutiny. It then refinanced a $1.45 billion debt in July 2023. It was previously known as FKP, a Gold Coast-focused property developer which was born in 1998 in the merger of Peter Kurts Properties, founded by the late Peter Kurts in 1964, with Forrester Parker Group, run by Rod Forrester and Phil Parker.

Automotive Holdings, 2019: AP Eagers took over its rival car dealer with an all scrip offer which valued the equity at about $1.2 billion. Automotive Holdings had 322m shares on issue and the final trades before it delisted were around $3.70. The combined business has since prospered.

Bellamy's, (5 years, 2014-2019): Chinese firm Mengnui bid $13.25 a share in 2019 for the Tasmanian-based powdered milk company, valuing the business at $1.5 billion.

Century Australia Investments (CYA): Held 10 shares through until the 2019 scrip takeover by WAM Leaders. Interviewed then manager Peter Morgan in 2005-06 for their annual report.

Dulux, (9 years, 2010-2019): was demerged by Orica in July 2010 and then 9 years later was acquired by Nippon Paint for $4.2 billion.

ERM Power (EPW): Taken over by Shell in 2019 when it offered $2.33 per share.

Gazal Corporation (GZL): was privatised in 2019 after a $6 per share bid, which valued the equity at about $250m. The last balance sheet showed retained earnings of $10.6m and net assets of $109m so overall investors were about $200m in front after the takeover by the Gazal family.

GBST Holdings (GBT): Retained 8 shares until it was taken over by Fernz Corp in 2019. Never attended AGM.

Greencross (GXL, 12 years, 2007-2019): the pet retailer raised $10 million at $1 when it was floated by Bell Securities in 2007 and was eventually taken over after this 440 page scheme book was lodged in December 2018, detailing the $970m enterprise value which private equity firm TPG paid for the business in February 2019. Its valuation subsequently went much higher

Healthscope, (5 years, 2014-2019): after being floated by private equity firms TPG and Carlyle in July 2014 raising $2.57 billion at $2.29, the private hospital operator was bought by Canadian giant Brookfield in 2019 for $4.4 billion after winning a takeover bidding war against rival private equity firm BGH which had teamed up with Australian Super. However, it went bust in 2025 when Brookfield walked away.

MYOB, (4 years, 2015-2019): has been floated and privatised twice, the second time in 2019 when private equity giant KKR paid $2 billion, just 4 years after private equity firm Bain floated 39% of the business at $3.65 a share in 2015, raising $833 million.

Navitas, (15 years, 2004-2019): the private education provider was privatised by Melbourne-based private equity firm BGH in a $2.1 billion deal in 2019.

Trade Me, (8 years, 2011-2019): the ebay of New Zealand was floated off by Fairfax in December 2011 at $NZ2.70 a share and then acquired by Apax Partners for $NZ6.45 a share in early 2019.

Wellcom Group (WLL): Retained 44 shares which presume were sold into $6.70 takeover in 2019. Never attended AGM.

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2018 - 14 deals

Aconex, (4 years, 2014-2018): the Melbourne-based construction software company was bought by US giant Oracle for $1.6 billion or $7.80 a share in 2018 after raising $140 million at $1.90 in a late 2014 float.

Atlas Iron (AGO): Held 19 shares until Hancock Prospecting takeover completed in 2018. Is on this list of 200+ former $1 billion-plus market cap companies that are no longer listed.

Billabong (BBG): was taken private by two US hedge funds which had come in through the distressed debt. The last minute increase in the offer caused much discussion in legal circles.

Boulder Steel(BGD)/Zenitas Healthcare (ZNT): was taken over by private equity in 2018 with an offer pitched at $1.445 per share which valued the equity at $110m. Last balance sheet showed $56.7m in accumulated losses and $70.7m in net assets. Shane Tanner was chair on exit and Jeremy Kirkwood on the board. Never attended AGM.

Fairfax Media (36 years, 1992-2018): floated by ANZ Bank out of receivership in 1992 and then taken over by Nine in 2018 in an all shares deal which saw the Fairfax name disappear, but snapped up Rural Press and and the radio assets of Southern Cross Broadcasting along the way, plus NZ internet play, Trade Me, which it later floated.

Folkestone (FLK): Retained 10 shares until Charter Hall took it over at $1.39 per share in 2018. Never attended AGM

Gateway Lifestyle (GTY): Taken over by Hometown Australia which offered $2.35 per share in 2018.

ING/Investa Office Fund (IOF): Started off as Armstrong Jones, then became Investa Office Fund after ING, which was bought by Oxford Properties in 2018 which paid $5.60 per share. The Richard Longes chair address at the scheme meeting spells out the history as Blackstone was outbid by Oxford with a $3.34 billion offer for the equity, which was close to book value.

Kangaroo Resources (KRL): The Indonesian-focused coal miner got mopped up by its 57% controlling Indonesian shareholder at 15c a share, which valued the overall equity in the business at about $500 million. See scheme book.

Mantra, (4 years, 2014-2018): the French giant Accor easily became Australia's biggest hotel company after the $1.2 billion takeover of Mantra which was floated at almost half that valuation 4 years earlier.

Mineral Deposits (MDL): Taken over for $1.75 per share in 2018.

Tox Free Solutions (TOX): held 10 shares until 2018 when taken over by Cleanaway which paid $2.85 per share. Never attended AGM.

Viralytics (VLA): Merck bought the business for an equity value of $502m after bidding $1.75 per share. See presentation at June 2018 scheme meeting.

Watpac (WTP): Retained 10 shares in the construction company until it was taken over by Belgian company Besix with a 92c a share offer in 2018.

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2017 - 8 deals with more to be added

Astro Japan Property Group (AJA): Blackstone bought it for $7.18 per share in 2017, according to Delisted.com.

Bradken, (13 years, 2004-2017): Hitachi, the Japanese train systems, power tools and mining equipment giant paid $976 million for ASX-listed Bradken in 2017 but the shares had previously traded higher. It floated at $2.50 a share in 2004 after raising $245 million.

DUET Group, (19 years, 1998-2017): originally floated as United Energy in 1998 and then eventually Hong Kong-based giant CKI offered $3.03 a share or a whopping $7.4 billion in May 2017. See 360 page scheme book.

Multiplex Prime (MAF)/Brookfield Prime Property Fund(BPA): bought 910 MAF at 55c on Mar 3, 2008. Changed its name to Brookfield in 2010 and then the Brookfield parent privatised it with an $8.89 per unit offer in 2017.

Spotless, (3 years, 2014-2017): after being floated by private equity firm PEP in 2014 in a $1 billion float priced at $1.60, the bottom end of the range, it taken over by services rival Downer EDI in a $1.3 billion deal in 2017.

United Group/UGL Ltd (UGL): bought 38 at $13.37 on Mar 12, 2007. Sold 294 at $17.64 on Aug 29, 2007. Doesn't add up. Retained 10 shares until taken over by Leighton/CIMIC in 2017.

Warrnambool Cheese & Butter (WCB): Canadian firm Saputo paid $9.05 per share which valued the equity at around $700m.

Westfield, 2017: traded under various names and entities over the years but the international assets finished up in Westfield Corporation which in 2017 was taken over by French rival Unibail-Rodamco in a deal worth $33 billion. The Australian assets remain listed through Scentre Group. Unibail shares have struggled ever since it overpaid for the offshore assets.

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2016 - 14 deals

Aquarius Platinum (AQS): Delisted in 2016 after merged with Sibanye Gold in what sounded like a complicated workout for Computershare involving cash, shares and currency.

Asciano, (9 years, 2007-2016): spun out of Toll Holdings in June 2007 and then, after almost going broke, was bought by a consortium of bidders including Brookfield and QUBE in August 2016.

ASG Group (ASZ): Retained 87 shares until taken over by Nomura Research in 2016 which paid $1.63 per share, valuing the equity at $330m. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $6.4m and net equity of $111m so investors collectively made about $220m overall. Well played.

Ausenco, (10 years, 2006-2016): the Brisbane-based resource engineering firm once chaired by former Queensland Premier Wayne Goss had a market cap above $1 billion when its shares peaked at $15, but it disappeared in a whimper in 2016, when private equity fund Resource Capital paid just 40c a share or $154 million in an agreed bid. It was floated at $1 a share in 2006 when it initially raised $26 million.

Coffey International (COF): Was taken over by Tetra Tech Inc when it offered 42.5c per share in 2016. Never attended AGM.

Davnet/UXC, (17 years, 1999-2016): rebranded from a mining company in 1999 and then the CBD focused bandwidth carrier soared to have a market capitalisation of more than $7 billion before the tech wreck struck in 2000, as this AFR piece on founder Stephen Moignard explains. Later changed its name to UXC which was taken over by US IT services giant CSC for $428 million in 2016.

Ebet (EBT): Changed its name to Intecq (ITQ) in 2015, which Tabcorp bought for $7.15 per share in 2016 after an earlier share consolidation that got the price up. Never attended AGM.

Gryphon Minerals (GRY): Taken over by an offshore miner in 2016. Never attended AGM.

M2 Group, (17 years, 1999-2016): the owner of brands such as Dodo and Commander disappeared into the belly of rival Vocus Communications after a $3 billion merger which completed in March 2016.

Pacific Brands, (12 years, 2004-2016): raised $1.3 billion at $2.50 a share in a 2004 IPO and was bought by US clothing company Hanes Brands when it offered $1.1 billion or $1.15 a share in 2016.

Recall, (3 years, 2013-2016): demerged out of Brambles in December 2013 and then received an initial takeover offer from US firm Iron Mountain in December 2014 but the final $3.4 billion deal wasn't completed until mid-2016.

SAI Global (SAI): the whole company was taken private by Baring Private Equity Asia before being split and sold off in parts.

STW Communications: mopped up by British parent WPP in 2016 after many years trading under the malign influence of John Singleton.

Veda Group, (3 years, 2013-2016): was floated by private equity firm PEP in an IPO priced at $1.25 which raised $341 million and then US giant Equifax bought Australia's biggest credit agency business for $2.5 billion in 2016 after agreeing to pay $2.825 a share, so a good result for public investors. Last reported annual revenue was $338 million in 2014-15.

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2015 - 10 deals with more to be added

Affinity Education: bought by private equity firm Anchorage for around $215m after a takeover battle.

Amcom Telecommunications (AMM): Taken over by Vocus in 2015. Never attended AGM. The last balance sheet in February 2015 showed retained earnings of $20.7m and net assets of $170.4m. The Vocus takeover valued the Amcom equity at $2.45 per share or around $650 million, so investors overall did very well with value creation of around $500 million.

Energy Developments (ENE): Retained 10 shares until 2015 DUET takeover at $8 a share which valued the equity at $1.36 billion. See scheme meeting presentations. The final balance sheet showed $495m of contributed equity so investors did very well. Never attended AGM.

Goodman Fielder, (10 years, 2005-2015): a corporate raider player in the 1980s built by former New Zealand baker Pat Goodman which was privatised by Graham Hart's Rank Group and then refloated at $1.85 a share in 2005, raising $1.72 billion for the equity. It was then taken over by Singapore's Wilmar International for $1.3 billion in 2015.

Indophil Resources (IRN): Retained 166 shares until taken over by Alsons Prime with a 30c offer in 2015 which valued the equity at $360m.

iiNet: was acquired by TPG Telecom in September 2015 in a $1.56 billion deal.

Novion Property Group, (21 years,1994-2015): originally listed by billionaire John Gandel under the name Gandel Retail Trust' with six retail assets and was was managed by Colonial First State out of Sydney, under the name CFS Retail Property Trust until 2013. CBA bought Colonial in 2000, the name change to Novion occurred in 2013 and then, despite being the bigger entity, it was nominally taken over by Federation Centres (the old Centro group) in 2015, creating today's listed behemoth Vicinity Centres.

Skilled Group: Sold residual 15 into a 2015 merger with Programmed Maintenance Services which then got bought by a Japanese company.

Toll Holdings, (31 years, 1986-2015): privatised by Japan Post which went over the top in May 2015 paying $9.04 per share, eventually losing billions. See 162 page scheme book.

WHK Group (WHG): Changed its name to Crowe Horwath Australasia (CRH) in 2013 which was taken over by Findex in 2015 after it offered 50c per share. Never attended AGM.

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2014 - 10 deals with more to be added

Aquila Resources, (14 years, 2000-2014): floated by Hartley Poynton in 2000 at 20c a share after raising $3 million. Chinese steel giant Baosteel and Aurizon Holdings, the old Queensland Rail, privatised the business for $1.3 billion in 2014 after offering $3.40 a share for the aspiring developer of the West Pilbara iron ore mine and rail project. This investment proved to be a disaster.

Australand, (17 years, 1997-2014): Frasers of Singapore, paid $2.6 billion for the property developer in 2014.

Calliden Group (CIX): Taken over by Steadfast in 2014 when it offered 41.5c per share.

Challenger Diversified Property (CDI): Retained 119 shares until it was taken over by Challenger Life in 2014. Final balance sheet showed equity of $582m so it was quite a big property trust. Never attended AGM.

David Jones, (29 years, 1995-2014): floated out of the Adsteam debt mess in 1995 and then privatised by South African company Woolworths for $2.1 billion in 2014 before later being sold to Anchorage for an estimated $100m in 2022.

Envestra, (17 years, 1997-2014): floated by Boral in a $910 million IPO and then taken over by Li Ka-Shing's CKI group for $2.37 billion in 2014.

Oakton Ltd (OKN): Held residual 20 shares until 2014 Dimension Data takeover at $1.90 per share so broke even overall.

RHG Ltd (RHG): Received $5 on January 8, 2014 for final 10 shares in takeover. Upset the late David Coe at one physical AGM in Sydney after the GFC. The final RHG balance sheet showed retained profits of $85.6m and net assets of $89.6m. The takeover valued the equity at $154m so don't let anyone tell your the $700m pre-GFC float by John Kinghorn was a disaster for investors, as was claimed in this SMH obituary after he passed in 2023.

Transfield Services, (13 years, 2001-2014): floated in 2001 after family disputes and debt issues associated with sponsoring Transurban. Spanish giant Ferrovial offered $1.95 a share in 2014 which valued the business at $999 million, a far cry from its pre-GFC highs.

Wotif, (8 years, 2006-2014): floated at $2 a share when it raised $172 million in a 2006 float and then US giant Expedia ended up buying the business for $703 million in 2014 but the stock had traded much higher than the $3.30 offer price in previous years.

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2013 - 9 deals with more to be added

Bravura Solutions (BVA/BVS): Sold remaining 100 into 28c Ironbridge offer in 2013 so lost about $90 after brokerage. Never attended AGM. Was refloated as Bravura Solutions by Ironbridge in 2016 with an initial capitalisation of $310m. This has risen to almost $1 billion by June 2025 so it has done well second time round. See text of 4 questions asked at dramatic 2025 AGM.

Clough (CLO): Residual 10 shares sold to Murray and Roberts in scheme of arrangement in December 2013. Never attended AGM.

Innamincka Petroleum (INP)/Acer Energy(ACN): Changed its name to Acer Energy in 2011. Retained 304 shares until it was taken over by Drillsearch in 2013 which offered 28.5c per share. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $70m and net equity of $44m and the takeover valued the equity at $132m so investors finished about $20m in front overall.

Ivanhoe Australia (IVA): changed its name to Inova Resources (IVA) which was bought by Chinese company Shangxi Donghui Coal for 22c a share in 2013. This valued the equity at $160m and the final balance sheet showed $560m in accumulated losses and net assets of $137m so it was a disaster for investors. The company raised $125m in a 2008 IPO to pursue copper-gold projects near Cloncurry. Never attended AGM.

Linq Resources Fund (LRF): Retained 10 shares until 2013 takeover priced at 72c by Indonesian company IMC Resources Holdings. This valued the equity at $130m, so a good result for investors given final balance sheet showed $57m of paid up capital.

Norfolk Group (NFK): Retained 13 shares until it was taken over by RCR Tomlinson in 2013.

Perilya Ltd (PEM): Residual 30 shares taken over in scheme effective December 19, 2013 when a Chinese company paid 35c a share, valuing the equity at $270m.

Premium Investors (PRV): Retained 8 shares until 2013 WAM Capital takeover. Never attended AGM.

Trust Company: Sold residual 1 share into Perpetual takeover in late 2013.

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2012 - 15 deals

Alesco (ALS): Lost $450 investing in the stock with a residual holding sold into the 2012 Dulux takeover priced at $2.05 per share, valuing the exit at $193m. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $18m and net assets of $406m so with an underwhelming takeover, investors collectively lose more than $200 million in this enterprise. Nippon Paint later bought Dulux and is on the 400-plus list of foreign companies turning over more than $200m a year in Australia.

Anvil Mining (AVM): was dual-listed in Canada and taken over by China's government-owned Minmetals Resources in 2012 in a deal pitched at $C8 per share which valued the equity at $C1.24 billion. Was dual listed in Canada with a copper mine in The Congo. It was accused of supporting a brutal government crackdown on a rebellion at one point.

Austar, (13 years, 1999-2012): one of the last floats to get away before the tech wreck and then the regional pay-TV operator was finally bought by rival Foxtel for $2 billion in 2012.

Bow Energy (BOW): Taken over in 2012 by Arrow Energy which offered $1.52 per share valuing the equity at $550m. The final balance sheet showed retained earnings of $2.4m and net assets of $205m so overall investors made about $350m. Never attended AGM.

Brockman Resources (BRM): retained 5 shares until delisted in 2012 when it was taken over by Wah Nam International which offered $1.50 per share plus 18 of their shares which at the time valued the equity at $456 million. See investor presentation on its iron ore prospects from 2012. The final balance sheet showed $113m of accumulated losses and net assets of $34.4m so investors did well from the Chinese bidder which already owned a majority of the stock before launching the mop up bid. Barry Cusack was on the board for a while.

Consolidated Media Holdings, (5 years, 2007-2012): the PBL media rump was spun out of Crown in November 2007 and then taken over by News Corp in October 2012.

Customers (CUS): residual 5 shares sold into take over by US firm Direct Cash Payments Inc which offered $1.27 per share in 2012, valuing the equity at $171m. Peter Polson chaired the scheme meeting of the Cheltenham-based company and the late Ross Heron was a director. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $17m and net assets of $165m so investors broadly got their money back. Never attended AGM.

Extract Resources (EXT): Retained 10 shares in the African uranium play which was then taken over by Taurus Minerals in 2012 with an $8.65 per share offer.

Gloucestor Coal, 2012: China's state-owned Yanzhou Coal Mining paid $2.2 billion for the business in 2012.

Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund (HDF): retained 65 shares until taken over by APA Group in 2012.

Industrea (IDL): Retained 67 shares until $1.27 per share takeover bid in 2012 by US conglomerate General Electric which valued the equity at $467m. The final balance sheet showed net equity of $324m and contributed equity of $210m so shareholders did well. Former Federal Labor Minister David Beddall was chair for the last 13 years, as he said at the scheme meeting. Never attended AGM.

Macquarie Office Trust (MOF)/Charter Hall Office (CQO): almost went broke during the GFC and then became Charter Hall Office (CQO) from 2010. Was taken over in 2012 by 3 parties (Charter Hall, Singapore pension fund and Canadian public pension fund) at $3.60 per share, which valued the equity at $1.8 billion. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $624.3m and net equity of $1.8 billion so the overall experience for shareholders was a loss of $624m.

Maryborough Sugar (MSF): Was delisted in 2012 after an offshore takeover at $4.45 per share.

Talent2 International Limited: The old Morgan and Banks team privatised it along with a UK outfit Allegis in 2012.

Thakral Holdings: Brookfield took it private for about $400m in 2012.

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2011 - 29 deals

Adamus Resources (ADU): was bought for $600m by Canada's Endeavour Mining in 2011. Never attended AGM and lost about $400 investing in the stock.

Anaconda/Minara Nickel (16 years, 1995-2011): built up by Andrew Forrest in the 1990s, the operator of the $1.4 billion Murrin Murrin nickel project in central WA collapsed into the hands of its US bondholders who were owed $US420 million. Chief backer Glencore also lost almost $1 billion on the project but hung in there until eventually completing a full takeover in 2011 after bidding 87c which valued the whole business $1017m.

Austereo (AEO): bought 310 at $1.67 on Oct 17, 2005. Sold 200 at $2.11 on April 11, 2007. Retained 110 shares and most of $500 investment until 2011 Southern Cross takeover which was a mix of cash and shares.

Avoca Resources (AVO): bought 233 at $2.15 on Dec 18, 2007. Sold 200 at $2.33 on April 18, 2008 to break even. Retained 33 shares and most of $500 investment and then taken out in 2011 merger with listed Canadian miner Anatolia Resources.

Axa Asia Pacific Holdings/National Mutual, (16 years, 1995-2011): the old National Mutual demutualised and floated in 1995 when French insurance giant AXA bought 51% for a bargain price. The company was then carved up in 2011 by AXA and AMP in a $14.6 billion deal where both suitors went over the top.

Biota Holdings (BTA): Sold remaining 10 shares into 2011 takeover by US firm Nabi Biopharmaceuticals. Attended 1998 AGM in Melbourne as part of Daily Telegraph series but no questions

Centrebet International (CIL): bought 320 at $1.63 on Oct 4, 2006. Sold 180 at $2.38 on March 27, 2007 to recover most of investment. Balance of 140 sold into $2 a share offer by UK firm Sportingbet in 2011, valuing the equity at $183m. The final balance sheet in February 2011 showed retained earnings of $4.8m and net assets of $57m, so investors overall made about $135 million on this journey. See delisted summary. Personally made about $100 profit.

Chemgenex Pharmaceutical (CXS): bought 519 at 95c on Jan 14, 2008. Sold 519 at 51c on Mar 27, 2009 to lose $230. Taken over by Cephalon Inc in 2011 when it paid 70c per share valuing the equity at $211m. Never attended AGM.

Citadel Resource Group (CGG): pursued a variety of resources projects in Saudi Arabia and was finally taken over in early 2011 by Equinox in a deal valued at $1.25 billion. Its last balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $100.6 million and claimed net equity of $242 million.

Coal & Allied, (51 years, 1960-2011): the Hunter Valley coal miner was originally 50% owned by Howard Smith. CRA pounced in the 1990s and then Rio Tinto and Mitsubishi mopped up the minorities in 2011 before Rio later sold most of the assets to Chinese giant Yancoal.

Connect East, (7 years, 2004-2011): floated in 2004 with a $1.12 billion raising at $1 a share and then the owner of Melbourne's 38 km East Link tollroad was privatised by fund manager CP2 and other institutions for $2.17 billion in 2011.

Count Financial (COU): bought 145 at $3.26 on July 30, 2007. Sold 145 at $1.23 on May 26, 2009 to lose $300. Was taken over by CBA in 2011. Never attended AGM.

Crane Group (CRG), 2011: history as a public company dates back to the 1960s but it was taken over by New Zealand company Fletcher Building which paid $10.25 per share in a deal which valued the equity at about $800m. It was capitalised at more than $1 billion when the shares traded close to $20 before the GFC.

DKN Financial Group (DKN): bought 736 at 68c on June 12, 2008. Sold 726 at 41.5 on July 30, 2009 to lose $220. Retained 10 shares until IOOF took it over in 2011 paying 80c per share. Never attended AGM.

Dominion Mining (DOM): bought 109 at $4.61 on December 17, 2007 and sold 109 at $4.30 on February 12, 2009 to lose $70. Retained 10 shares until 2011 scrip merger with Kingsgate Consolidated, which remains listed today.

Eastern Star Gas (ESG): Santos bought the business for $924m in 2011.

Engin Ltd (ENG): bought 5,615 at 9c on Aug 15, 2007. Sold 5,615 at 2c on April 21, 2009 to lose $350. Delisted in 2011 after a Kerry Stokes vehicle paid minority shareholders 90c per share.

Ferraus (FRS): bought 348 at $1.40 on July 3, 2008. Sold 338 at 32c on May 8, 2009. Currently hold 10 shares. Taken over by Atlas Iron through a 1-for-4 scrip offer in 2011. Atlas subsequently almost failed because being bought by Gina Rinehart.

Fosters, 2011: demerged its wine business Treasury Wine Estates in May 2011 and then was taken over by SAB Miller in December 2011.

Giralia Resources (GIR): bought 715 at 70c on February 11, 2008. Sold 500 at $1.14 on February 26, 2008. Sold 200 at $2.48 on May 29, 2008 so overall profit about $500. Held 15 shares though until the 2011 Atlas Iron takeover, which was pitched valuing the equity at $828m or $4.57 per share, although only 50c of this was cash and Atlas shares later crashed. The last Giralia balance sheet in 2010 showed retained earnings of $10.6m and net assets of $109m so investors did well, depending on when they exited Atlas. Never attended an AGM.

ING Industrial Fund (IIF): previously traded under both the Heine and Armstrong Jones brands. Goodman teamed up with a united nations of sovereign funds in CPP, APG and CIC to buy the 61 property business with a 57c per unit offer in 2011, which valued the equity at $1.47 billion. There was also circa $1 billion in debt. Kevin McCann ran the scheme meeting and this Goodman announcement after the vote shows how big a deal it was for Goodman's long term growth after it nearly fell over during the GFC.

Isoft (ISF): US firm Computer Sciences offered 17c per share which valued the equity at about $180 million, well below earlier highs. See chair script at July 15 scheme meeting.

Jabiru Metals (JML): bought 530 at 95c on Aug 16, 2007. Sold 430 at $1.26 on Sept 5, 2007 to recover investment. Retained 100 shares until taken over by Independence Group in 2011 which offered 96c valuing the equity at $532m. The final balance sheet showed $135m in accumulated losses and $87.8m in net assets so this was a good example of development a mining operation which became attractive for acquisition as it moved into production. Well played. Never attended AGM.

Mantra Resources (MRU): bought 157 at $3.20 on July 8, 2008. Sold 157 at $1.85 on Mar 27, 2009 to lose $270. Taken over at $7.02 per share in 2011 valuing the equity at $945m. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $132m and net assets of $74.6m so the takeover of the Canadian dual list company with uranium assets in Africa was a bonanza for investors.

Minara Resources (MRE): bought 250 at $2.05 on June 14, 2006. Sold 125 at $4.16 on Oct 5, 2006. Sold 75 at $6.42 on Jan 31, 2007. Retained 50 shares until Glencore took it over for 87c per share in 2011.

Oaks Hotels & Resorts: was taken over by a Bangkok-based company in 2011 in a deal which valued the equity at $129m. Bought 265 at $1.95 on Mar 14, 2007. Sold 310 at 51.5c on May 14, 2009 to lose about $300.

Riversdale Mining, 2011: famously acquired by Rio Tinto in 2011 for $3.9 billion which then proceeded to pretty much lose the lot and sack then CEO Tom Albanese over the embarrassing losses.

Tower Australia, 2011: Japanese giant Dai-ichi bought the financial services company in a deal valued at $1.2 billion in early 2011.

Valad Property Group (VPG, 9 years, 2002-2011): the equity was worth more than $2 billion when these 47 slides were presented right at the top of the market before the GFC in October 2007. The European and Australian property spree that saw funds under management top $20 billion eventually imploded and by the time Blackstone privatised the business for about $180m in 2011, total shareholder losses were more than $2.2 billion. Blackstone is now the world's biggest private owner of property, so perhaps investors should have stuck with it.

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2010 - 15 deals

Andean Resources (AND): taken over by Canadian firm Goldcorp in 2010 in a deal which valued the equity at $C6.40 per share or $C3.5 billion in total. Was dual-listed in Canada and focused on its gold assets in Argentina. See the 400 page scheme book.

Arrow Energy, (10 years, 2000-2010): was floated in 2000 when it raised $5 million at just 20c and then Shell and Petro-China completed a $3.5 billion takeover of the Queensland coal seam gas company in 2010.

Aurox Resources (AXO): Taken over by Atlas Iron in 2010 in an all scrip merger which valued the Aurox equity at $134m, although Atlas shares later tanked. The last balance sheet showed $53m in accumulated losses and net equity of $69.2m. Never attended AGM.

AWB, (9 years, 2001-2010): effectively demutualised and floated in 2001 and then once its constitution was amended ended the farmer gerrymander, Canadian firm Agrium bought the company with a bid worth $1.50 a share in 2010 which valued the business at $1.24 billion.

BBI/Prime Infrastructure, (8 years, 2002-2010): initially floated as Prime Infrastructure Trust in 2002 Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management took the old Babcock & Brown Infrastructure over in 2010 in what was billed as a $2.8 billion merger at the time. The Dalrymple Bay port assets were later refloated.

CBH Resources (CBH): bought 1,040 at 48c on Aug 15, 2007. Sold 800 at 55c on Oct 15, 2007 to recover most of investment. Retained 240 shares for a period but the business is now owned by Japan's Toho Zinc after a 2010 takeover that finished with compulsory acquisition.

Centennial Coal (CEY), 2010: the NSW coal producer was acquired by Thai company Banpu at $6.20 a share in December 2010, valuing the company at $2 billion.

Choiseul Investments (CHO): bought 100 at $5 on February 5, 2010. Sold 90 at $4.98 on March 10, 2010. Held 10 shares until it was taken over by Milton in 2010.

Corporate Express, 2010: originally floated at 55c in a modest $2.5 million raising and then later mopped up by parent company Staples in 2010 with all directors losing their jobs. Fairfax reported at the time that the company was worth about $1 billion.

Healthscope Ltd (HSP) (16 years, 1994-2010): the only name which appears twice on this list. The first iteration floated in 1994 and was then sold into a private equity takeover in 2010 pitched at $6.26 per share from Carlyle and TPG which valued the equity at $2 billion. The final balance sheet showed retained earnings of $137m and net assets of $1.2 billion so investors did well.

Keycorp (KYC): bought 1,250 at 42c on Mar 6, 2007. Forced the sale of my 1,250 shares at 23c at the end of June 2008 through an unmarketable parcel sale pricess and transferred $287.50 into my account. Was taken over by private equity firm Archer Capital at 58c a share in December 2010 when it was delisted. According to this list, attended a shareholder meeting in December 2020 but have no recollection.

Lihir Gold, (15 years, 1995-2010): after a high profile float in 1995 which raised $608 million, it taken over by Newcrest in 2010-11, which in turn was taken over by US giant Newmont in 2023.

Mitchell Communications (MCU): Lost plenty speculating shortly after the 2000 float of emitch. Sold 290 at $1.24 on September 16, 2010. Subscribed to 4,587 shares at $1.09 in 2007 SPP and sold 4377 shares at $1.19 on October 24, realising $417 profit. Asked questions of Harold at one physical AGM back in the day. Taken over by Japanese advertising giant Aegis in 2010. Final balance sheet showed retained earnings of $21.5m and net assets of $161.3m and the $1.20 per share takeover valued the equity at $360m so overall investors did well with more than $200m in value created.

Pipe Networks (PWK): bought 125 at $4 on August 10, 2007. Sold 100 at $4.85 on October 5, 2007 to break even. Held residual 25 shares until taken over by TPG Telecom in 2010.

Wattyl (WYL): bought 250 at $2.03 for $527.45 on May 5, 2005. Sold 150 at $3.50 for $505.05 12 months later for profit of $187. Presume remaining 100 sold into 2010 US paints group takeover pitched at $1.67 per share which valued the equity at about $150 million.

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2009 - 9 deals with more to be added

Arana Therapeutics (AAH), formerly Peptech: bought 330 at $1.53 on March 25, 2007. Sold 330 at 87c on Jan 13, 2009 to lose around $250. Was taken over at $1.45 per share by a group called Cephalon in 2009.The last balance sheet showed retained profits of $73m and net assets of $284m. The offer valued the equity at about $320m so investors profited by about $100 million overall from the company's ASX journey.

Australian Wealth Management (AUW): Did a scrip merger with IOOF in 2009 which valued the combined business at $700m with a 70-30 split in favour of AUW, suggesting its equity was worth about $500m. The final AUW balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $129m and net assets of $670m, suggesting AUW investors dropped about $300m although the combined business subsequently prospered.

Babcock & Brown Capital (BCM)/Eircom(ERC): floated in 2005 when it raised $1 billion from investors. Changed its name to Eircom Holdings in 2009, which was taken over by Emerald Communications later that year in a deal which valued the equity at 54.5c, valuing the cash-scrip offer at just $91m. However they had paid $1.40 per share or $235m in capital returns earlier in 2009 after selling its Golden Pages investment. The main asset was a majority stake in Eircom, Ireland's Telstra equivalent, but it was loaded with debt. The final balance sheet showed $1.5 billion in accumulated losses and negative equity of $660m, so investors dropped around $800m overall.

Babcock & Brown Communities(BBC): bought 370 Primelife shares at $1.40 on November 7, 2005. Dropped about $300 as Lend Lease eventually took them over.

Felix Resources, (29 years, 1980-2009): former Australian coal mining company which was purchased by China's Yanzhou Coal in 2009 for a whopping $3.5 billion. It started out as Meekatharra Minerals in 1980 and also traded as Aurion Energy before becoming Felix in 2003.

GRD (GRD): bought 220 at $2.32 on May 10, 2006. Sold 170 at $2.92 on July 18, 2007 to break even. Sold remaining 50 shares into AMEC Plc's 55c takeover in 2009.

Lion Nathan, 2009: floated in Australia after buying the Bond Brewing assets and then Japanese giant Kirin first got control in the late 1990s and then moved to 100% in 2009.

Portman Mining (PMM): bought 61 at $8.30 on Aug 15, 2007. Sold 51 at $10.19 on Sept 24, 2007. The remaining 10 shares were compulsorily acquired in the Cleveland Cliffs takeover at $21.50 each in January 2009. The overall proceeds were $741.25 and overall profit $215.

Sydney Gas: bought 1,667 at 30c on Jan 22, 2008. Sold 1500 at 35c on May 2, 2008. Sold remaining 167 into AGL's 42.5c per share cash offer for $71 in January 2009. Overall profit $56 and profit on takeover component $12.50 in 21 months.

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2008 - 15 deals

ABB Grain, (6 years, 2002-2008): bought by Canadian firm Viterra for $1.2 billion in 2009 after the old Australian Barley Board was privatised by the Howard Government and then floated after a $33 million capital raising in 2002.

Allegiance Mining (AGM): bought 835 at 60c on August 10, 2007. Sold 600 at 75c on September 19, 2007 and sold remaining 235 into Zinifex/OZ Minerals takeover bid for $1.10 per share in March 2008 which valued the equity at about $850m. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $33.5m and net assets of $168m so shareholders made a $700m windfall and the acquisition was a total disaster for OZ Minerals.

Anzon Australia (AZA): bought 465 at $1.09 on Mar 5, 2007. Sold 465 at $1.53 on Sept 12, 2007 for a profit of $300. Taken over by Arc Energy in 2008. Attended one of their AGMs at Crown Melbourne back in the day.

ARC Energy (ARQ): bought 370 at $1.36 on Aug 15, 2007. Sold 200 at $1.46 on Apr 21, 2008. Retained 170 shares with half of $500 investment covered. Delisted after taken over by AWE in 2008.

Consolidated Minerals, 2008: the Perth-based miner was privatised by a Ukrainian billionaire in March 2008 when he lobbed a bid at $3.20 per share which valued the business at $1.3 billion.

Dyno Nobel, (2 years, 2006-2008): bought by Incitec in 2008 for $2.6 billion at $3.23 a share after being flipped into the public markets by Macquarie which raised $902.4 million at $2.37 a pop. Will potentially be demerged out again.

Equigold (EQI): bought 157 at $3.20 on Nov 20, 2007. Taken over by Lihir Gold in 2008 which offered 33 of its shares for 25 in Equigold. Never attended AGM.

Independent Practitioner Network (IPN): bought 1,950 at 26c on November 26, 2007. Taken over by Sonic Healthcare in 2008 which offered 27c a share so went close to breaking even. Never attended AGM.

Jubilee Mines, 2008: the Perth-based nickel miner was taken over by Xstrata in February 2008 after it offered $23 per share or a hefty $3.1 billion.

Just Group (JST: 4 years, 2004-08): there's an excellent history on Wikipedia but when the stock peaked at $5.88 in November 2007, the equity was worth $1.2 billion. Solly Lew's Premier Investments bought it for about $800m the following year.

Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, 2008: bought by a Canadian pension fund in 2008 after being earlier floated by Macquarie as one of their externally managed infrastructure plays.

Mayne Nickless, 1926-2008: After being found to have been part of a price fixing cartel along with Ansett and TNT in the early 1990s, it disposed of its remaining transport and security interests with Interlink and Ipec being sold to the Toll Group, Interlink Express to La Poste and Armaguard to Linfox In the 1990s, it diversified into healthcare, purchasing hospitals and later pathology and diagnostic businesses. In 2001 pharmaceutical company Faulding Pharmaceuticals was purchased. In 2002, Mayne Nickless changed its name to Mayne Group. In 2000, the container parks and warehousing facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane were sold to Lang Corporation, which later become Patrick Corp. In 2003, Mayne's 53 hospitals were foolishly sold to Affinity Health, a consortium of Citigroup, CVC Capital Partners and GIC Private Limited. In November 2005, the company was split into Mayne Pharma and Symbion Health. Mayne Pharma was taken over by Hospira in 2007 and Symbion Health was taken over by Primary Health Care in 2008, which now struggles along as Healius. See questions asked at 2023 AGM.

Midwest Corp, 2008: the iron ore wannabe was privatised by Chinese company Sinosteel in September 2008 after it lobbed a $6.38 a share cash offer which valued the company at $1.36 billion. The New York Times noted at the time that this was the first Chinese takeover of an ASX listed company.

Queensland Gas, (8 years, 2000-2008): went public through a 20c IPO in 2000 and then Britain's BG Group offered $5.75 per share in cash valuing the business at $5.6 billion in September 2008.

Symbion Health, 2008: demerged out of Mayne Group and then taken over by Primary Healthcare with a $4.10 a share offer in 2008 which valued the business at $2.65 billion.

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2007 - 21 deals

Adelaide Bank, (13 years, 1994-2007): taken over by Bendigo Bank in an all scrip deal in August 2007 but the equity remains listed. Originally floated in 1994 after the merger of two Adelaide-based building societies. See Wikipedia.

Alinta Gas (7 years, 2000-2007): US firm Utilicorp (now Aquila) and AMP paid $4.38 a share for a cornerstone shareholding in the WA gas utility before it was floated by the Court government at the knockdown price of $2.25 a share. Was later carved up by Singapore Power and the Babcock group in 2007 after out-bidding Macquarie. Was one of the the biggest factors in Babcock going broke and Macquarie would have struggled if it had prevailed.

Alinta Infrastructure Holdings (2 years, 2005-2007): floated in 2005 after raising $740 million at $3.21 in a partly paid structure than never received more than $2 as it was taken private again by parent company Alinta in February 2007 before the final $1.20 was payable.

Auspine (ANE): sold 80 shares to Gunns Ltd for $7 per share on December 20, 2007. The final balance sheet showed retained earnings of $131.7m and net assets of $270m and the takeover valued the equity at $377m so investors did well although Gunns later went broke.

Coates Hire, (11 years, 1996-2007): privatised by private equity firm Carlyle in partnership with Kerry Stokes controlled interests which paid $6.06 a share or $1.65 billion in October 2007. Stokes' Seven Group Holdings later bought Carlyle out so the assets remains publicly listed through SGH.

Coles Group, (80 years, 1927-2007): floated in 1927 as GJ Coles, pulled off a mega merger with Myer in 1985, then sold Myer to private equity firm TPG for $1.4 billion in 2006 before Wesfarmers bought the rest of the empire - Coles, Kmart, Officeworks and Kmart - for $19.3 billion in 2007, mainly paying with their own shares. Wesfarmers later demerged the Coles supermarkets business in 2021.

Cumnock Coal (CMK): Ended up doing a merger with Xstrata in 2007 which saw all shareholders receive 57c per share. Xstrata already owned 84% going into the deal and Itochu was the only minority that mattered with 10%. John Howard's great mate Tony Clark and John Fahey were the only two independent directors at the end. The final balance sheet showed accumulated losses of $26.3m and net assets of $72m and the 57c exit valued the equity at $143m.

Investa Property Group, 2007: Morgan Stanley mopped up the property group at $3.08 a share in mid-2007, giving it an enterprise value of $6.5 billion.

Investorweb (IWL): Taken over by CommSec in 2007 which offered $6.45 per share or $357m in total for the equity. The final balance sheet showed $39.3m in retained earnings and $96.2m in net assets so all up investors made about $300m overall before selling out to CBA.

LionOre, 2007: Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel stumped up $7.6bn to buy the WA nickel producer LionOre in 2007 but the nickel price turned immediately, and the mines it bought were shut within a year or so of the deal closing. The Australian rated it as one of the worst takeovers ever.

Mayne Pharma, 2007: the old FH Faulding business was taken over by US company Hospira for $2.6 billion in 2007. Chairman Peter Willcox departed, as did fellow directors Nora Scheinkestel, Rowan Russell, John Sime and Paul Binfield.

Multiplex Group, (4 years, 2003-2007): floated at $3.08 a share raising over $1 billion and then privatised by Brookfield Australia for $5.05 per share in August 2007, which amounted to $4.23 billion for the equity, before considering the $2.4 billion in debt.

Pacifica Group: the car parts company was sold to German manufacturer Robert Bosch Investment for $2.20 per share in December 2007.

PCH Group (PCG): UK company Cape Australia offered $1.40 per share for the Perth-based company on December 21, 2007, right at the top of the market.

Repco (RCL): The car parts company was floated by the old Pacific Dunlop and was then taken over by CHAMP private equity which offered $1.75 per share.

Resource Pacific, 2007: the coal miner was takeover by Xstrata in late 2007 after it bid $3.20 per share, valuing the business at $1.09 billion. See SMH coverage.

Rinker Group, 2007: spun out of CSR and then taken over by Mexican company Cemex at $19.50 per share in 2007, one of the biggest cash takeovers in Australian history valued at $27.5 billion.

Rural Press, (19 years, 1988-2007): formed when Warwick Fairfax sold some regional titles to his cousin John B Fairfax after privatisation the family empire. Fairfax Media was then floated by the banks in 1992 and after 19 years of steady expansion, Fairfax then merged with Rural Press in 2007, creating a $12 billion empire which subsequently shrunk. Fairfax then merged with Nine Entertainment in 2019, which sold most of the rural and regional papers to Anthony Catalano and Alex Waislitz.

Smorgon Steel, (8 years, 1999-2007): floated in the mid-1990s when the family imploded and then taken over by One Steel in 2007 in a deal valued at $1.16 billion. Name was later changed to Arrium, which went broke.

Southern Cross Broadcasting, 2007: founded by former HWT chairman John Dahlsen shortly after the News Corp takeover in 1986, the entire board decamped after the over-priced $1.3 billion Fairfax-Macquarie takeover in 2007. The bidders grossly overpaid.

St George Bank, (15 years, 1992-2007): taken out by Westpac in late 2008, although it was a scrip bid and Westpac remains listed so the equity exposure remains.

Sydney Roads, (1 year, 2006-07): had barely been spun out of Macquarie Infrastructure Group in 2006 when Transurban launched a bid which saw Bob Morris, Michael Easson, Arlene Tansey and Julian Beaumont lose their jobs in 2007.

Copyright © 2026 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

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