{"id":588257,"date":"2026-09-02T19:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588257\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T19:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:38:15","slug":"kip-mcgrath-board-rejects-crimsons-48m-takeover-offer-beaton-notes-shareholder-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588257\/","title":{"rendered":"Kip McGrath board rejects Crimson\u2019s $48m takeover offer, Beaton notes shareholder support"},"content":{"rendered":"

If ultimately successful, Crimson would pay A$40m ($48m) cash to assume control of the ASX-listed international tutoring provider \u2013 a 62% premium on its pre-offer price.<\/p>\n

The unsolicited offer was said to be funded from Crimson\u2019s cash reserves.<\/p>\n

Founder backs bid<\/p>\n

Crimson\u2019s July 29 notice said a substantial minority shareholder \u2013 Pie Funds Management, which held a 19.25% stake \u2013 had agreed pre-bid to accept the offer. The takeover bid would activate once 90% of shareholders agreed to sell to Crimson.<\/p>\n

On August 7, Beaton\u2019s firm said<\/a> founder Kip McGrath (who retired from the board in 2019) had indicated he wanted to sell his remaining stake, taking shareholder support for its bid to around the 40% mark.<\/p>\n

But the bid was complicated later the same month as Sydney-based mergers and acquisitions arbitrage fund Harvest Lane Asset Management increased its Kip McGrath holding from 5.8% to 20%. <\/p>\n

The AFR, quoting unnamed sources, described it as a \u201cblocking stake\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kip McGrath shares closed yesterday at A72c.<\/p>\n

The stock was at A45c before the offer.<\/p>\n

The firm had a net profit of A$2.5m on A$30.1m revenue last year. It paid a A$0.6m per share dividend. It has A$5.6m in cash and no debt.<\/p>\n

Kip McGrath founded the company bearing his name in 1976.<\/p>\n

Today the firm has more than 500 tutoring centre franchises around the world and had its shares listed on the ASX in 2003.<\/p>\n

Beaton and Crimson have enjoyed a meteoric rise since the then-Auckland teenager founded his educational cramming consultancy in 2013.<\/p>\n

Today the company operates internationally, earns hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues and is chaired by former Prime Minister Sir John Key.<\/p>\n

The play for Kip McGrath is understood to be Crimson\u2019s largest acquisition target to date, after the company has over the past decade rolled up a number of smaller local and international tutoring businesses.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If ultimately successful, Crimson would pay A$40m ($48m) cash to assume control of the ASX-listed international tutoring provider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[142208,289507,74,1863,243262,2372,138,1559,3937,110481,243263,3938,25337,9519,270363,56454,262531,111,139,31704,69,13692,16485,38606,22049,3048,2122,26264,30203,17155,1886,26592,6173,219296],"class_list":["post-588257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-48m","tag-a73c","tag-after","tag-back","tag-beaton","tag-board","tag-business","tag-called","tag-chief","tag-crimson","tag-crimsons","tag-executive","tag-firms","tag-jamie","tag-kip","tag-mcgrath","tag-mcgraths","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-notes","tag-nz","tag-offer","tag-pushing","tag-rejected","tag-rejects","tag-said","tag-share","tag-shareholder","tag-shareholders","tag-snub","tag-support","tag-takeover","tag-too","tag-unanimously"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}