Udg Healthcare Public Share Discussion Threads

[carcosa] 30/5/2021 09:17

FT:

M&G Investments, the £367bn asset manager, has blasted plans to sell London-listed UDG Healthcare to buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the latest in a series of criticisms of private equity deals by big fund managers.

Shareholders are due to vote in June on the £2.8bn all-cash offer to sell UDG, which provides clinical, commercial, communication and packaging services for the healthcare industry. 

But London-based M&G, which is a top-five shareholder in UDG according to data provider CapitalIQ, said the bid “fails to offer fair value to ordinary shareholders, including the customers on whose behalf we invest”. 

Allianz Global Investors, UDG’s largest shareholder, has also criticised the deal. Earlier this month, Elliott Investment Management, the activist investor, said it had taken a stake in the Dublin-headquartered company. 

The criticism by M&G and AllianzGI comes at a time of growing concern in the UK that listed companies are being sold off too cheaply to private equity firms. 

While fund managers rarely make public statements on companies, some have decided to speak out about deals involving private equity in recent weeks, including Schroders, which criticised transport operator FirstGroup’s planned £3.3bn sale of its US business to Swedish buyout group EQT.

Private equity groups, many of which have raised their largest-ever funds, are targeting the UK stock market with the aim of capitalising on lower valuations in the wake of Brexit and the pandemic. 

Thirteen private equity buyouts of UK-listed companies have been announced since the beginning of 2021, the highest year-to-date figure since 2006, according to figures from Refinitiv. Just two were announced during the same period in 2019. 

Rory Alexander, a fund manager at M&G, said he was concerned that CD&R would benefit from the UDG deal at the expense of ordinary investors.

“The $3.7bn offer does not reflect the potential long term value creation of UDG’s organic growth story, opportunity for strategic acquisitions, consistent cash generation and fortress balance sheet,” he said.

“The material mismatch between the offer price and our opinion of UDG’s true value represents upside transferred away from ordinary shareholders towards the private equity bidder.”

UDG declined to comment. But when the deal was announced on May 12, UDG chair Shane Cooke, said it was an “attractive offer”. He added that it “secures the delivery of future value for shareholders in cash today. The offer reflects the quality, strength and long term performance of UDG’s businesses and its future growth potential”.

CD&R declined to comment.

AllianzGI, which owns 8.6 per cent of UDG’s shares, said earlier this month that the price did “not adequately compensate existing shareholders”, adding that it was the duty of the board to “obtain a fair value for shareholders”.

“AllianzGI firmly believes that the offer is opportunistic and significantly undervalues UDG and its prospects and is not in the best interests of shareholders. Consequently, based on available information, AllianzGI is minded not to accept the current offer despite it being recommended to shareholders by the Board of UDG,” it added.

[mach100] 12/5/2021 07:45

Very good news. Excellent company and the take out price is juicy for a change. Shows the prospects of the company, The yield was poor so the cash is very welcome. Time for my next project.

[3rd eye] 03/6/2020 13:33

UDG Healthcare...........

Interesting to see the forward forecast for the company.

As per the majority of stock it will take a (very small) hit for 30/09/2020 but then in 2021 bounces back with vengeance, with a 16% rise in EPS which would put it on a p/e of 17 and a PEG of 1........in other words a (late) Jim Slater ZULU principle stock.

SEE forward forecasts below.

FORECAST

year Ending Revenue
(€m) Pre-tax(€m) EPS P/E PEG EPS Growth Div Yield

2020-09-30 1,005.48 102.04 36.88p 20.1 -4.8 -4% 11.18p 1.5%
2021-09-30 1,087.20 122.83 42.91p 17.1 1.0 16% 15.01p 2.0%

CHART

SP as moved above the 200 day moving average a bullish sign. In a lovely uptrend.

[3rd eye] 22/5/2020 10:29

UDG Broker Forecasts..........

Latest broker views

Date Broker Recomm. Current Price Price when issued Old price New price
22 May 20 Berenberg Buy 692.50 694.00 740.00 880.00
19 May 20 Liberum Capital Buy 692.50 623.50 900.00 -
19 May 20 Peel Hunt Buy 692.50 623.50 1,165.00

[3rd eye] 22/5/2020 10:12

UDG Healthcare UDG.. worth a bob or two investment.

UDG valuation is ‘compelling217;, says Berenberg

Healthcare packaging company UDG Healthcare (UDG) is trading on a ‘compelling valuation’ for a market leader, says Berenberg.

Analyst Eoghan Read retained his ‘buy’ recommendation and increased his target price from 740p to 880p. The shares rose 1.6% to 692.5p yesterday.

First-half results from the group beat Read’s forecasts by 6% and he said while it had not been immune from the impact of Covid-19, his ‘confidence in the equity story’ had increased thanks to positive momentum, operating resilience, and the ‘long-term structural drivers evident in the market’.

‘UDG remains one of our top picks in our UK mid-cap business services coverage,’ he said. ‘Trading on a 20% discount to long-term average and US peers, we think it now presents a compelling valuation opportunity for a structurally growing and market-leading operator.’

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Lovely uptrend channel on the chart. If it breaks through the ceiling of the channel, next share price target mid term is 730p approx. P/E 19 for 2021, cheap considering the Boom in Bios and health at the moment.

[brain smiley] 17/3/2020 15:47

Come on; put out the profit warning !

[brain smiley] 31/1/2020 16:20

UDG organises meeting and events for the drugs industry in China.Will they have to be cancelledand how much profit do they make from them ?

[our haven] 28/1/2020 07:20

Another good update. Well ahead of their previous trading quarter. I'd say we can have confidence going forward, US business going well.

[our haven] 26/11/2019 07:26

Results look solid. Not sure how the opening will go but I suspect negative initial reaction. However longer term should be okay.

[prandhawa] 09/10/2019 12:50

Ootmjuujookikikkkkkkkjj

[our haven] 21/5/2019 08:39

Take overs being well received by the market particularly the US takeover.Looks a good piece of business for UD.

[hyper ai] 04/4/2019 14:30

time to go short again.
great down-trend.

[mfhmfh] 02/4/2019 15:25

Peel Hunt today reitrratr buy rating and 1,030 target price.

[brain smiley] 26/3/2019 10:33

Interesting price action;hit 5.45 this morning. Mmmm.

[brain smiley] 14/3/2019 14:21

What a dog;next results will be interesting.

[gswredland] 09/3/2019 09:52

Seems to bounce back from 560

[mfhmfh] 04/3/2019 09:46

positive write-up in last week's Shares Magazine

[hyper ai] 19/2/2019 15:32

downtrend still in place

[brain smiley] 19/2/2019 14:55

Very poor performer.Shorttracker showing a Fund opened a 1.1% short in February;the only short interest in UDG.

Wouldn't be surprised to see more director buying.

[mfhmfh] 04/2/2019 09:56

'Erik Van Snippenberg, Non Executive Director, bought 7,500 shares in the company on the 1st February 2019 at a price of 587.00p. The Director now holds 7,500 shares representing 0.00% of the shares in issue.'

[mfhmfh] 30/1/2019 09:50

buy rating reiterated in yesterday's IC

[mfhmfh] 29/1/2019 12:20

Peel Hunt today reiterates buy rating and 1,030p target price.