Sydney, June 12, 2026, 07:02 (AEST)
- Steadfast Group ended at A$5.23 on Thursday, dropping 2.8%. Shares had jumped the previous day on takeover news.
- Amwins and Dragoneer put a cash bid of A$6 a share for Steadfast, valuing the company at roughly A$7.7 billion enterprise value.
Steadfast Group Limited dropped 2.8% to finish at A$5.23 on Thursday, down A$0.15. The ASX-listed insurance broker opened at A$5.35 and hit A$5.40 before sliding back. Traders weighed a conditional takeover bid from Amwins Group and Dragoneer Investment Group, but shares still held above levels before the offer.
The stock soared 36% to A$5.38 on Wednesday, Reuters said, after Steadfast revealed the offer. The A$6-per-share bid still tops Thursday’s closing price, with shares staying under the cash offer as investors weigh risks tied to due diligence, paperwork and approvals.
Steadfast said the consortium is aiming to buy all of its outstanding shares through a scheme of arrangement. The offer is A$6 per share in cash, but the price will drop by any dividends or distributions announced or paid after June 5. In the deal outlined by the company, Dragoneer would take over Steadfast’s retail broking arm. Amwins would get the underwriting agency side.
The proposal puts Steadfast’s value at roughly A$7.7 billion with debt and minority interests. Steadfast said the offer is 51.9% above its A$3.95 close on June 9, 48.9% higher than the one-month VWAP of A$4.03, and 44.1% above the three-month VWAP at A$4.16. The company said this same consortium had already made non-binding bids at A$5.50 and A$5.83 per share.
Steadfast’s board has signed an exclusivity and process deed with Amwins and Dragoneer, setting up an eight-week due diligence window for the consortium. The possible deal still needs several pieces in place: due diligence signed off, a binding scheme implementation deed, unanimous board backing, an independent expert report, and ticks from the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, and New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office.
Traders zeroed in on the premium after the stock’s recent slide. “The premium is solid, but necessary given that the stock has been sold off recently and hence may be considered opportunistic,” Romano Sala Tenna, portfolio manager at Katana Asset Management, told Reuters. Reuters also said fund manager Emanuel Ajay Datt called the offer attractive for shareholders and said it helps settle doubts about leadership succession. Reuters
The Australian market slipped on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 20.10 points, or 0.23%, to finish at 8,633.20. Steadfast shares also lost ground, trading lower on a day when the broader index was down, but most of the action in the stock centered on the spread between its price and the A$6-a-share bid.
Steadfast runs insurance broker and agency networks in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, London, and the U.S. The company says its brokers and agencies put through about A$25 billion in gross written premium each year. ASX investors and players in insurance distribution are watching the Amwins-Dragoneer deal closely.
