“This offer is uncertain and conditional and the Perpetual board believes that it is not in the best interests of its shareholders to engage on this offer and has therefore rejected the offer,” Perpetual said in a statement.

The consortium chasing Perpetual includes Baring Private Equity Asia,which was recently acquired by global private equity firm EQT. Baring made the bid through the BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII. ASX-listed investment manager Regal Partners,run by chief executive Brendan O’Connor and chief investment officer Phil King,recently merged with VGI Partners.

In a statement,O’Connor said that the offer submitted was “compelling for Perpetual shareholders and,importantly,is more attractive than maintaining the status quo and proceeding with the proposed acquisition of Pendal”.

According to Gluskie,investors are expecting one or more bidders to pursue Perpetual,putting further pressure on its plans of expand in the market through the Pendal acquisition.

“People need to feel they could get good synergies out of[the deal with Pendal] and create a better strategic position,and I think there were a couple of question marks around that. Whereas this deal,Perpetual is the target in this case,with the potential that there might be additional bidding.”

Morningstar analyst Shaun Ler said if the deal did not proceed,which was unlikely at current prices,Perpetual “could be under some kind of pressure or activism” to potentially look at realising value through some assets sales. “As a shareholder,I’d be thinking it’s too cheap. They have to do something to realise value,” he said.

In a note,Charlie Aitken from stockbroking firm Bell Potter likened the takeover bid to “throwing a cat among the pigeons in Perpetual’s unpopular bid for Pendal”.

“I like this move from Regal,despite Perpetual rejecting it. It shows genuine growth ambition and is well-timed with Perpetual stock at 10-year lows.”

Regal is seeking to acquire the asset management businesses of Perpetual,while BPEA EQT will seek to acquire the corporate trust and private clients businesses.

The firm said it was disappointed the proposal had been rejected,but it will seek to understand the rationale behind the decision and engage with Perpetual’s concerns.

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories,exclusive coverage and expert opinion.Sign up to get it every weekday morning.