FleetPartners agrees to A$1.13 billion takeover by PEP-owned SG Fleet

Vehicle fleet leasing company FleetPartners Group has agreed to be acquired by SG Fleet, which is owned by funds managed by private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), for A$5.30 a share in cash, the company told the ASX before the market opened on Monday.

FleetPartners said the price values its equity at about A$1.131 billion. It is an 87.3% premium to the company’s closing share price of A$2.83 on 31 July 2026, the last trading day before SG Fleet’s first unsolicited approach, and A$0.65 a share more than the leading revised non-binding proposals it received on 14 September, the company said.

The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote for the deal, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding it is in shareholders’ best interests, FleetPartners said. The deal follows what the company described as a “highly competitive process involving strategic bidders”. In August, the board rejected an earlier SG Fleet proposal of A$3.60 a share and disclosed a separate approach from Canada’s Element Fleet Management.

The scheme needs approval from shareholders and the court, and from regulators including the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and New Zealand’s Commerce Commission and Overseas Investment Office. It is not subject to financing or due diligence conditions, the company said, and will be funded from cash, debt and equity from PEP-managed funds.

FleetPartners expects shareholders to vote in February 2027 and the deal to be completed in March 2027. The Australian Financial Review reported that the agreement was signed on Sunday night.