Good morning,

Perpetual may have rejected Washington H. Soul Pattinson’s $3 billion takeover 0ffer, but analysts reckon this is the start of more to come.

In a note to clients on Thursday, Bell Potter’s Marcus Barnard said he wouldn’t be surprised to see other bidders appear now Soul Patts has come forward.

“We have been highlighting the undervaluation of PPT shares for some time, and it now seems to be in play,” he said. “With one bid on the table, we would be surprised if further bids did not appear.”

Other brokers were singing the same tune with JPMorgan‘s Siddharth Parameswaran saying he’s waiting to see “an improved offer or other better offers” and Citibank’s Christopher Kightley saying the bid “has the potential to flush out other bidders”.

Luring another bidder or extracting a higher bid from Soul Patts would ultimately be a good outcome for Perpetual and its advisers.

No word yet from Phil King’s Regal Partners whether it’ll want to come back for another try, now that Perpetual is very much in play.

Happy reading,

• Santos weighs demerger among options amid merger talks
• Project Dawn: A flyer, a banker and a candlestick maker
• Competition regulator drags its paws on Woolworths’ PETstock buy
• Barrenjoey’s Kevin Chong jumps to Allegro Funds; Dean Fremder to Firetrail
• 4DMedical readies $30m-plus raising to fund offshore acquisition

• Woodside Energy and Santos have confirmed that they had entered preliminary talks on a potential near $80 billion merger, reports Angela Macdonald-Smith.
• Activist Bolton triumphs as Magellan pays out option holders, writes Jonathan Shapiro.
• KPMG is exploring a potential merger of its UK and Swiss businesses to boost profits and growth, according to The Financial Times.

Click here for the latest equity market wrap.