A week after Platinum indicated it would not proceed with Regal’s bid to acquire all the shares in the fund manager, Platinum confirmed it had decided to grant Regal the right to carry out a due diligence process.

In an ASX announcement on Friday, Platinum said it was entering into an initial period of non-exclusive, mutual due diligence with Regal to allow the latter to improve the value and terms of its offer.

Due Diligence will also allow Platinum the opportunity to assess the absolute and relative value of the consideration for the Regal Shares and the costs and benefits of any combination.

"Following rejection of Regal's proposal, Regal approached Platinum with a request to be granted due diligence so that it could submit an improved revised proposal," Platinum explained.

"The board remains open to considering proposals for control of Platinum from Regal or other third parties, but will only advance any such proposals if they are on terms that provide appropriate value for Platinum shareholders," the asset manager added.

He stressed that "there is no guarantee that discussions with Regal will progress" or that Regal will submit a revised offer.

In a separate statement, Regal said: "The purpose of this review is to further ascertain the merits and value of the proposed combination and to determine whether any improved offer would be in the best interests of and benefit Regal's shareholders."

"Discussions remain preliminary and incomplete and there is no certainty that they will result in an improved offer or deal."

In an announcement to the ASX last Thursday, Platinum said it had rejected Regal's offer on the grounds that the terms of the offer undervalued Platinum.

The board is said to have reached its conclusion after considering factors such as Platinum's standalone value in a potential change of control, its current turnaround strategy and growth plans, the value and impact of Regal's share consideration offer and the conditional nature of the offer , which will require due diligence, board recommendation and various approvals.

Regal owns a 5.5% stake in Platinum from 2022, which it acquired through a series of smaller acquisitions over a period of several months.

Separately on Friday, Regal said its FUM rose from $12.3 billion on June 30 to $17.2 billion on September 30, 2024. – marking a growth of 41 percent. According to the firm, the increase was due to a combination of continued net client inflows and positive investment results across a number of investment strategies.