RHG Said to Receive Preliminary Takeover Bid from Resimac

RHG Ltd., an Australian home loan company with a market value of A$143 million (A$147 million), received a takeover approach from non-bank lender Resimac Ltd., according to a person familiar with the matter.

The bid is at a preliminary stage, according to the person, who asked not to be identified as the matter is private.

Shares in RHG were halted from trading ahead of a statement about a possible transaction. They’ve climbed 3.3 percent this year, compared with a 7 percent gain in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.

Sydney-based Resimac Executive Director Mary Ploughman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Sydney-based RHG at public relations firm Cato Counsel also declined to comment. Resimac’s bid for RHG was reported by the Australian Financial Review newspaper earlier today.

RHG reported A$40.7 million net profit in the year ended June 30, and said it had a closed mortgage book worth A$2.49 billion as of Nov. 1.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nichola Saminather in Sydney at nsaminather1@bloomberg.net; Narayanan Somasundaram in Sydney at nsomasundara@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net