Trade Me suitor Hellman & Friedman drops out

Thu, 13 Dec 2018

By Paul McBeth Dec. 13 (BusinessDesk) - Trade Me suitor Hellman & Friedman has dropped out of the race to buy New Zealand's dominant online marketplace. Rival Apax Partners yesterday got into the box seat with a $6.45 per share offer winning over Trade Me's board to agree to a scheme of arrangement. The $2.56 billion offer matched an indicative bid from US private equity firm Hellman & Friedman and was an improvement on the $6.40 a share pitch initially put forward by Britain's Apax. Trade Me shares slipped 6 cents, or 0.9 percent, to...

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