A small raise, a long list of conditions
The offer was lifted to about A$2.6 billion ($1.8 billion). Australian press reports say Perpetual told the exchange on 27 July that Windflower Pte, an entity linked to EQT, had raised its cash offer from A$22.07 to A$22.50 a share. That is a 2% increase.[1]
According to the same reports the proposal is non-binding and indicative, conditional on completion of due diligence, execution of binding documents, regulatory approvals and completion of the sale of Perpetual's wealth management business to Bain Capital. Under that structure what is on the table is an option: the buyer raises the price while leaving its obligation where it was.[1]
What the size of the steps says
The sequence is instructive: A$21.64 at the start of July was rejected, then came A$22.07, and now A$22.50. The first step was about 2%, and the second about 2% as well. Increments of that size look like the price of staying in the conversation and gaining due-diligence access; nothing in the reporting shows they carry new information about the target's valuation.[1]
A competing reading is available: small repeated increases also appear when a rival suitor is present, and the target's board wins a higher floor at every step. What would separate the two is whether the board grants due-diligence access and where the Bain Capital transaction sits in the timetable. If the wealth management sale slips, A$22.50 stops being the meaningful number in this file.[1]