By Sameer Manekar and Rajasik Mukherjee
Aug 26 (Reuters) - FleetPartners said on Wednesday it had received an A$813.1 million ($582.3 million) offer from a consortium led by Japan's Sumitomo Corp, making it the fourth bidder for the Australian vehicle leasing firm in less than a month.
The competing bids underscore the appeal of FleetPartners' fast-growing novated leasing business, which accounted for nearly a fifth of operating earnings in fiscal 2025 and has benefited from tax incentives for eligible
electric vehicles.
Novated leasing lets employees finance a car through their employer and potentially reduce income tax.
"Four separate international bidders indicate FleetPartners has genuine franchise value that matches global fleet consolidation trends," said Emanuel Ajay Datt, managing director at Datt Capital.
The Sumitomo-led group joined Japan's ORIX, Pacific Equity Partners (PEP)-backed SG Fleet and Canada's Element Fleet in pursuing FleetPartners, one of Australia's largest vehicle leasing providers.
The Sumitomo Corp-Sumitomo Mitsui Auto Service consortium offered FleetPartners shareholders A$3.85 per share in cash, a 34% premium to the stock's close on July 31, before the bidding war began.
That topped the bids of A$3.80 per share from ORIX and Element Fleet, but trailed SG Fleet's A$4.00 proposal, which the PEP-backed company raised two weeks ago after an initial approach was rejected.
"With four bidders now circling, we expect the process to clear A$4.00 driven by strategic synergies rather than pure financial arbitrage," Datt said.
The competing approaches also highlight continued interest from foreign investors and private equity firms in Australian-listed companies, particularly in the financial services sector.
Shares of FleetPartners were trading nearly 1% lower, as of 0517 GMT, after surging nearly 50% in just over three weeks since SG Fleet launched its takeover approach on August 3.
The company has granted the Sumitomo consortium initial, limited access to commercial and financial due diligence as it continues to engage with the other suitors.
($1 = 1.3965 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar & Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)
