IOOF seeks to best Perpetual with rival bid for Trust Company IOOF Holdings has made a takeover bid for The Trust Company, saying its offer is better for shareholders than an earlier bid by Perpetual. In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, IOOF offers share consideration of 0.74 IOOF shares per Trust share or guaranteed minimum cash consideration, and a special dividend of 22 cents per Trust share, expected to be fully franked. The special dividend and guaranteed minimum cash consideration will total $6.25 per Trust share, which is at the upper end of the value assessed by the Trust board's independent expert, IOOF said. The Trust Company has already signed a scheme implementation agreement (SIA) with Perpetual that would pay shareholders 0.1495 Perpetual shares for each Trust share, equivalent to $6.171 per share, plus a fully franked special dividend of 22 cents per share. IOOF also encouraged the Trust board to pay shareholders an interim dividend of up to 17 cents per share, which would not be permitted under the Perpetual SIA. Under the deal, the guaranteed minimum cash consideration would be subject to a maximum cap of $100 million of total cash to be paid by IOOF, and would be scaled back proportionally if demand exceeded the figure, so Trust shareholders would receive the rest of their consideration as IOOF shares. The new suitor said its proposal is better than the Perpetual offer because it offers a higher price per share, is not conditional on Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approval, allows an interim dividend payment and has a higher total available cash pool. The offer is open for acceptance until 9am on September 7. Equity Trustees has also made a bid for The Trust Company, asking for the same access to the target's books as given to Perpetual.