Commercial finance broker and lender COG Financial Services has launched an eleventh-hour bid for Diverger, a company that provides compliance, technical and consulting services to accountants and financial planners. In September, Diverger entered a scheme of arrangement with Count Ltd, which operates complementary businesses. The cash and scrip offer valued Diverger at A$1.14 a share. COG announced yesterday that it has made a non-binding indicative offer to acquire Diverger, with a cash and scrip offer that values Diverger at $1.41 a share. COG chief executive Andrew Bennett said in a statement that in addition to the higher price, a merger with COG would give Diverger shareholders access to a larger, more liquid share register. Diverger said it was working through the COG offer and had not yet made any recommendation. It said the board had not changed its recommendation of the Count scheme. COG’s business activities are finance broking and aggregation; novated leasing and salary packaging; and lending – equipment finance for SMEs and property loans. Acquiring the Diverger business would represent a significant diversification for COG but in its offer letter it said the strategic rationale for the transaction was that “there are many revenue and expense synergies and growth opportunities across COG’s asst finance, broking, novated leasing and funds management activities and Diverger’s operating businesses”.