Corporate: CML says Scottish Pacific deal delivers 'certain value in uncertain times'

Debtor finance specialist CML Group (ASX:CGR) will choose Scottish Pacific as its acquirer ahead of Consolidated Operations Group (ASX:COG).

The two financial firms had been vying for CML since December when Scottish Pacific stepped into the ring. Consolidated Operations first proposed to merge a month earlier.

Earlier this week, CML terminated the deal with Consolidated and this morning made the deal with Scottish Pacific official.

Shareholders of CML will be paid a total of 60 cents per share – over $130 million all up.

The directors and substantial shareholder First Samuel said they would vote for the scheme and recommended shareholders do likewise.

The proposal will be voted on in May and while it may seem a formality, CML used the current economic uncertainty to drum it up the offer. It said the proposal “delivers certain value to CML shareholders in uncertain times”.

CML shares rose a modest 3 per cent this morning, but sit well ahead of where it sat before the battle began at 45 cents.

Meanwhile, Consolidated Operations, which holds 17.4 per cent of CML, remained unchanged.

In other ASX small cap corporate news today:

Online Airport transfer marketplace Jayride (ASX:JAY) confirmed a fall in passenger trips due to the coronavirus but still recorded solid growth. Passenger trips slowed but were still up 50 per cent compared with February last year. Net revenue growth in February was also up from 12 months ago, but remained stable compared with last month.

The board said it expected to see an impact in March trading and continued to monitor the impact. Shares fell over 30 per cent throughout February but gained 10 per cent this morning.