Job ad player Seek to acquire Xref for around A$41M – not much higher than current worth

The Board of employee reference check tech player Xref (ASX:XF1) have recommended shareholders accept Seek’s takeover offer.

Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK) – perhaps Australia’s best-known jobs ad platform – has made a final offer for the company at 21.8cps.

At close on Wednesday, shares were 20.5cps.

That makes the market cap of Xref around $37M; Seek’s 21.8cps offer represents a marginally higher deal around A$41M. That, Xref’s Board has said, is good enough.

 “The Directors of Xref unanimously recommend shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, and each Xref director intends to vote their Xref shares in favour of the Scheme,” the Board wrote on Thursday.

That’s “in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding (and continuing to conclude) that the Scheme is in the best interests of Xref shareholders.”

It’s obvious why Seek might be interested in Xref – especially as Australia’s job market continues looking strong.

With that said: applications per job ad fell in Oz recently fell for the first time in 2 years according to Seek data released Wednesday.

But that decline was only -0.9% and could prove to disappear as Christmas casual jobs feed into the data.

(Or maybe not.)

XF1 last traded at 20.5cps.

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