Daily Brief Australia: A2B Australia, Probiotec Ltd, Actinogen Medical and more

• Taxi-Related services operator A2B Australia (A2B AU) has completed a large property sale and subsequently entered into a Scheme with Singapore’s ComfortDelGro Corp (CD SP).
• The property sale enabled a $0.60/share fully franked dividend. Separately, and in addition, ComfortDelGro is offering A$1.45/share. Or A$2.05/share all-in. Before franking credits, for those who can take advantage. 
• The special divi ex-date is the 12 January. It is not conditional on the Scheme. Implementation for the Scheme, assuming all approvals are met, is expected mid-April.

• Drugs maker/packager group Probiotec Ltd (PBP AU) has entered into a Scheme with Indonesia’s Pyridam Farma (PYFA IJ).
• Pyridam is offering Probiotec shareholders A$3.00/share (in cash, or a 19% premium to the undisturbed price). Interim and final  dividends up to A$0.035/share and A$0.04/share, respectively, may be added.
• It has not been declared final. The Offer has the board’s backing. A Scheme Meeting is expected to be held in May with possible completion in early June 2024.

• A2B Australia (A2B AU) has entered a scheme implementation deed with Comfortdelgro Corp (CD SP) at A$1.45 per share. Including the special dividend of A$0.60, the total offer is A$2.05.
• ACCC approval should be forthcoming as ComfortDelGro is not a significant player in Australia. A2B has several substantial shareholders and a high retail shareholder base, posing a risk.
• The shares are trading through terms. However, a bump is unlikely as the offer is attractive, and several substantial shareholders have sold down recently.  

• Probiotec Ltd (PBP AU) has entered a scheme implementation deed with Pyridam Farma (PYFA IJ) at A$3.00 per share, a 19.0% premium to the undisturbed price (21 December).
• Including potential dividends, the total potential offer price is A$3.075 per share. The scheme requires Probiotec shareholders, Pyridam shareholders, FIRB and Indonesia OJK approvals.
• The offer is attractive and represents an all-time high. At the last close, the gross spread of the base offer and total potential offer is 3.1% and 5.7%, respectively.  

Actinogen Medical has opened the first investigational study site for its Phase IIb XanaMIA trial of lead candidate Xanamem in patients with cognitive impairment (CI) associated with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study plans to enrol c 220 patients, who will be randomised to take Xanamem 10mg or placebo once daily for 36 weeks. The trial will concentrate on Australian test sites for the first 100 enrolled patients, and initial efficacy and safety results will be analysed when these patients reach 24 weeks of treatment. The results, expected in H1 CY25, could serve as a significant catalyst if data are positive. Nearer term, the next material milestone will be results, expected in Q2 CY24, from Actinogen’s Phase IIa XanaCIDD study in patients with CI and major depressive disorder (MDD). A positive XanaCIDD readout may lead to a share price re rating, and thereby may potentially accelerate the expansion of XanaMIA to US and global clinical study sites.