The $10 billion group has not given any update on the sale process toinvestors since its half-year earnings results a month ago, when it said it was carefully assessing the highly conditional offers that would need to jump through significant regulatory hoops.
That has renewed calls from some investors for Tabcorp to unwind its 2017 merger with the Tatts Group,in the belief that its booming lotteries operation would be valued higher if cut free from its bookmaking arm,which has been losing ground to online competitors such as Sportsbet and Ladbrokes.
“The interest from the various parties has let the genie out of the bottle,” Airlie Funds Management fund manager Matt Williams said on Monday. “So that even if this interest does not end up in a sale,shareholders will want the two businesses separated.”
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Mr Williams,whose fund has a small Tabcorp shareholding,said starting work on a demerger would not prevent the group from exploring offers for the business,while a stand-alone listed wagering business could still attract bids in the future.
“This would most likely be a complex process ... so the sooner they start at least the early preparatory work,the better,” Mr Williams said. “I’m slightly surprised that there hasn’t been more information around these bids but I’m sure that will occur in due course.”
Activist investors Sandon Capital has long called for the Tabcorp-Tatts merger to be unwound,and its managing director Gabriel Radzyminski said on Monday that a wagering demerger was still the best way to unlock value for investors.