The diversified communications company told the ASX that it had received “an unsolicited and conditional approach regarding the possible acquisition of its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) division”.
Salmat has revealed the approach to the market because the bidder is “a credible party”. The identity remains confidential.
A Salmat spokesperson told ProPrint: “BPO is one of the strongest performers in the group. It is not as if we have gone out proactively to sell, but as a public company we have to look at these proposals and thought it was the right time to release this information.
“This is not a SEMA or PMP where the business is not performing well.”
It comes at a time when Salmat believes its share price is undervalued, said the spokesperson. “The market cap is significantly less than the sum of the parts.”
Salmat’s share price jumped following news of the offer, rising to $2.34 after having hit a year-to-date low of $1.92 only this week.
In its half-year results to 31 December, the BPO division posted an 8% rise in EBITA to $21.5 million from a 1.9% rise in revenue to $158.6m.
The division comprised almost 40% of Salmat’s 2011 full-year turnover of $863 million.
BPO’s 2011 full-year revenue was $318.5 million, with EBITA of $41.8 million.
The division provides essential mail, e-documents and scanning services to most of Australia’s largest banks, telcos, utilities and government agencies.
It includes Salmat’s fleet of digital printing equipment, including its pair of high-volume Océ Jetstream 2200 inkjet web presses.
The strong performance at the BPO division was driven by rising volumes across print and online. In the first half, mail pack impressions rose 11.2% to 1.89 billion, mail pack volumes rose 6.1% to 539 million and e-documents were up 13.6% to 50 million.
Salmat said it would make a further announcement as and when appropriate.
The bid for Salmat follows a similar announcement from fellow listed print and communications giant PMP, which announced the takeover offer on 27 April, with the bidder revealed as labels and ticketing organisation TMA Group on 21 May.
One of Salmat’s major competitors, SEMA, filed for voluntary administration on 17 May.
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