Pinned straw:
Hi @nessy,
I haven't had a chance to assess it yet, but given the track record of the board and management here, I have little reason to doubt that the transaction has sound underpinnings. Like you said, those charts say it all.
I will chime in with some thoughts once I have mulled over the details.
Looks good to me, continuation of the inorganic strategy. I was expecting a US acquisition though but good to see it's a relatively safe australian acquisition which they have a good history of.
At least there was an earnings upgrade to boot - if only small.
I think SDF has benefited from the 'buy insurance' due to the higher bond yield thematic even if they don't benefit from that as a broker. So might reverse a bit now that inflation is falling, as bond yields fall, and they get lumped in that bucket.
They have benefited from the 'hard' premium cycle of course which is probably the more fundamental concern if this moves to a softening cycle.