ASX-listed Corporate Travel (CTD:AU) is advised by Morgans and Morgan Stanley on a, as described by AFR, “company changing Merger & Acquisition”. The move to acquire a US-based Travel & Transport group is announced to be done in a debt-free, around 40/60 cash-stock mix.
However, analysts said that the $375M equity raising was not fully used to fund the acquisition in which $127M raised is unrelated to the acquision. This suggests the possibility of future acquisition, given their excess cash and uncommited debt facility.
This is an interesting M&A deal to keep an eye on as the pandemic have obviously impacted the travel industry badly. It raises the obvious question of why do the merger now? On the flip side, if this merger comes out roses, Corp Travel will be well positioned to capture the opportunities post-Covid.