SYDNEY — Shares in Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd. rose 3.70% to $2.665 on Monday, adding 9.5 cents, as investors continued to price in the prospect of a takeover after Swedish private equity firm EQT Infrastructure confirmed over the weekend that its multibillion-dollar offer for the company remains intact following the completion of exclusive due diligence.

Cleanaway told the market on Saturday that the hard exclusivity period under its Transaction Process Deed with EQT had ended as planned, and that EQT had confirmed nothing uncovered during its review would cause it to withdraw or reduce its indicative proposal. The two parties are now working toward negotiating a binding scheme implementation deed, though no such agreement has yet been reached, and the offer consideration remains at least at the previously indicated level.

The update extends a takeover saga that began in mid-August, when EQT Infrastructure lobbed a conditional, non-binding proposal to acquire 100% of Australia's largest waste and recycling company for $3.13 cash per share, implying an enterprise value of roughly $9.4 billion. That offer represented a 32.1% premium to Cleanaway's last closing price of $2.37 before the announcement, and a similar premium to the stock's one-month and three-month volume-weighted average prices. If completed, the deal would rank among the largest take-private transactions in Australian corporate history.

Cleanaway's board granted EQT up to nine weeks of exclusive due diligence to negotiate........

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