Kjerulf Ainsworth Sets Out to Acquire 5.5% Stake in Ainsworth

Kjerulf Ainsworth has submitted a bid to acquire 5.5% of Ainsworth’s ordinary shares for AUD 1.30 ($0.92) apiece. The offer comes shortly after Novomatic’s attempt to acquire the rest of the company fell through.

The Offer Represents a 23.8% Premium

Kjerulf Ainsworth is an existing shareholder who has long sought to expand his stake in the company. A few months ago, he submitted an offer for a 2.9% stake in the company in response to Novomatic’s takeover attempt.

Kjerulf Ainsworth emphasized that his recent offer represents an attractive premium over Ainsworth’s recent trading prices. To put things into perspective, the AUD 1.30 price per share is equivalent to a 23.8% premium over Ainsworth’s closing price before the offer was submitted. The price offered is also significantly higher than the AUD 1 per share proposed by Novomatic.

For context, Novomatic’s offer was stuck in limbo for several months before it finally fell through due to insufficient approval. Existing Ainsworth stakeholders insisted that it undervalued the company and were vocal in their opposition to the agreement.

With Kjerulf Ainsworth currently holding an 8.17% stake in Ainsworth, the proposal could potentially increase his stake to up to 13.25%. The proposal would, however, need to secure approval from other stakeholders, since the deal is for 5.5% of the holding of each shareholder.

Kjerulf Ainsworth’s offer will remain open until April 2026.

NOVIMATIC Couldn’t Acquire the Rest of Ainsworth

As mentioned, NOVOMATIC had previously tried to secure full ownership of Ainsworth by acquiring all of its shares. NOVOMATIC has been an Ainsworth majority stakeholder for a while, owning 66.59% of the latter company. However, the attempt to complete its acquisition came to be marred by shareholder disagreements as the Ainsworth family and other shareholders rejected the arrangement.

The disagreements resulted in multiple delays and ended up slightly hurting Ainsworth’s share price. For context, Ainsworth’s shares are worth AUD 1.08 per share as of the time of this writing.