Thomas H. Lee Partners to acquire Brooks Automation’s automation unit for $3bn

Sep 20, 2021 | News

Brooks Automation Inc would sell its semiconductor automation business to private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP for $3bn in cash, scrapping earlier plans to separate the business from its life sciences unit.

Shares of the company were up over 3% in premarket trading on Monday.

Following the sale, which is expected to close in the first half of next year, THL will take over the semiconductor automation business, while the life sciences unit will operate as a standalone publicly traded company, Brooks Automation said.

Its life sciences segment caters to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech and healthcare industries globally, while the automation business provides robotics and other automated solutions to chipmakers and equipment manufacturers.

Evercore acted as the exclusive financial adviser and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. acted as legal counsel to Brooks Automation.

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“Following careful consideration, and consultation with its advisers, the board of AusNet considers that it is in the best interests of AusNet’s shareholders to engage further with Brookfield on the indicative proposal [of AUD2.50 per share],” the statement said.

Seven weeks to decide

The latest offer is a 26% premium to AusNet’s closing price of AUD1.98 on 17 September.

Brookfield will have seven weeks to conduct due diligence on AusNet before either firm can give seven-days’ notice to terminate the exclusivity agreements.

AusNet’s board said that it intends to unanimously recommend shareholders to vote in favour of Brookfield’s offer, should the private equity firm go ahead with the offer after the due diligence.

Transaction not certain

However, the Australian company’s board also told shareholders that there is no certainty that the proposal will translate into a transaction.

“AusNet has strong stand-alone growth prospects that it is well positioned to pursue. As the owner and operator of 100% of its assets, AusNet has a diversified portfolio with a regulated and contracted asset base of over AUD11bn. As the incumbent primary Victorian Transmission network owner, AusNet is uniquely positioned for growth as the energy transition accelerates driven by decarbonisation,” the Australian company’s statement added.

AusNet’s shares surged after the announcement. During late afternoon trading in Sydney, AusNet’s shares were 17.67% higher at AUD2.33 per share.

Source: Reuters

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