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- Appen (APX) receives an unsolicited $1.17 billion takeover bid from Canadian tech giant Telus International
- Telus has offered to buy all 123.38 million Appen shares for $9.50 apiece, though the company says it still needs to settle its financing arrangements for the transaction
- Appen says its board is working with Telus to improve the terms of the proposal
- Shareholders have been told they are not required to take any action regarding this proposal just yet
- Appen (APX) shares last traded at $6.40 per share on May 26
Appen (APX) has received an unsolicited $1.17 billion takeover bid from Canadian tech giant Telus International.
Telus has offered to buy all 123.38 million Appen shares for $9.50 apiece. Telus still needs to settle its financing arrangements for the transaction and also requires Appen’s board to unanimously agree on the proposal.
Appen said its board was working with Telus to improve the terms of the proposal. As such, its board will be providing Telus access to limited business and financial information, contingent on Telus agreeing to enter into a mutually-acceptable confidentiality and standstill agreement.
However, Telus has yet to receive any material non-public information from Appen.
Appen has told shareholders they are not required to take any action regarding this proposal just yet.
Appen said it was considering any revised proposal from Telus which would be in the best interests of all Appen shareholders. All discussions are currently only conditional and are not determinative of a transaction being completed.
Appen works with data for the artificial intelligence lifecycle. Its services include data sourcing, data annotation, model training and deployment, and model evaluation by humans. Appen’s system can help organisations launch innovative artificial intelligence systems.
Appen said Cognilytica, a research, advisory and education firm, estimated the artificial intelligence industry would grow by 32 per cent each year from 2021 to 2027.
According to global market research firm Precedence Research, as of last year, the global artificial intelligence market size was valued at US$87.04 billion (A$122.7 billion).
Appen (APX) shares last traded at $6.40 per share on May 26.
