Written by Ron Shamgar

In a market dominated by headlines around megacaps, rate speculation, and geopolitical volatility, it’s easy for investors to miss the quiet achievers, the companies that execute relentlessly, build shareholder value, and fly under the radar. These are the kinds of businesses that reward patient, valuation-driven investors over time, often with the added kicker of a takeover premium when the broader market finally catches on.

Today, we revisit three such ASX-listed names that have been on our 2025 takeover watchlist. Each of these companies, Pioneer Credit (PNC), Edu Holdings (EDU), and ReadyTech (RDY), is quietly executing on its business model, delivering improving fundamentals, and in our view, marching steadily toward a higher valuation. The market may be just waking up, but for long-term investors, the opportunity is already at the table.

1. Pioneer Credit (ASX: PNC)
From Periphery to Preferred, The Big Four’s Debt Partner of Choice

Pioneer Credit, once considered a peripheral player in Australia’s receivables management space, is rapidly emerging as a core partner for Australia’s major banks. The company specialises in acquiring and servicing portfolios of written-off consumer debt, with a particular emphasis on personal and unsecured loans. This is a sector often misunderstood by investors due to legacy reputational concerns, but behind the curtain, PNC operates with discipline, transparency, and strong counterparty relationships.

The company’s FY25 results were impressive across all metrics:

• Net Profit After Tax: $10.5 million, exceeding guidance by 17%
• Cash collections: $142.2 million, up from $140.5 million in FY24
• EBITDA: $94 million, versus $88.7 million the year prior
• PDP (Purchased Debt Portfolio) assets increased by $20 million
• Net assets grew 37% to $60.6 million
• Undrawn facilities of $34.3 million provide further balance sheet flexibility

What excites us most is Pioneer’s strategic positioning with the big four banks. The company is now seen as a “preferred partner” in purchasing and servicing debt portfolios, with Westpac already initiating new sales of PDPs to PNC. These relationships are notoriously difficult to secure and, once cemented, tend to be long-lasting. That creates a high degree of visibility in revenue and collections going forward.

Looking ahead, PNC is guiding for more than $18 million NPAT in FY26, which implies 40% earnings growth. With the stock trading on a forward PE of just 7x, we believe there is material room for re-rating, particularly if a dividend is reinstated, as management has hinted. The business is scalable, asset-light, and already profitable. The market has yet to price this in.

We believe PNC represents a textbook example of a misunderstood business that has restructured, refocused, and now stands ready to deliver value, either via continued market performance or as a logical M&A target for larger financial services players or private equity suitors.

2. Edu Holdings (ASX: EDU)
Demographic Tailwinds and the Education-as-a-Service Model

Edu Holdings operates in a sector that is fast becoming a structural growth theme in Australia, vocational and higher education for international students. Through its two core subsidiaries, Australian Learning Group (ALG) and the Ikon Institute, EDU provides accredited courses in healthcare, community services, and mental health. These are not “soft” degrees. They are highly employable qualifications in sectors facing chronic labour shortages.

First-half FY25 results made the market sit up and take notice:

• Revenue up 114% to $36 million
• NPAT of $6.3 million (versus breakeven the prior period)
• Total student enrolments hit 5,300, with 4,800 being international

While recent government rhetoric around international student caps has created some headline risk for the education sector, the reality is more nuanced. EDU’s student base is high-quality, often progressing into employment and permanent residency. These are the students Australia wants to retain. Healthcare and aged care, in particular, are in urgent need of skilled labour, and EDU’s qualifications directly align with these needs.

The company continues to invest in expanding course offerings, including new programs in tech and digital skills, while also considering strategic acquisitions in the higher ed space. Importantly, EDU has just paid its first dividend, a clear sign that profitability and capital discipline are now front of mind.

The valuation remains extremely modest, with the company still trading at a single-digit multiple of FY26 NPAT based on our internal projections. The kicker, every additional $1 in revenue is estimated to drop at least 30 cents to the bottom line, thanks to operating leverage in the model.

With directors buying on market and a buyback underway, EDU’s capital management signals confidence. We also think it’s only a matter of time before EDU attracts the interest of a larger education conglomerate or private equity firm. Scalable, profitable, and with a moat built on regulatory accreditation and student outcomes, EDU is ticking all the boxes.

3. ReadyTech (ASX: RDY)
The “Picks and Shovels” of the Digital Government Transformation

ReadyTech is a SaaS business that doesn’t just talk about digital transformation, it delivers it across mission-critical government and institutional systems. The company provides cloud-native platforms for education providers, local councils, workforce agencies, and justice departments, sectors typically underserved by large global vendors.

FY25 wasn’t perfect, organic growth slowed a little, but the company has reset expectations and FY26 is shaping up as a return to form.

Here is what we like:

• Signed its first university client, expanding its presence in higher education
• Cloud migration for 200 plus local council ERP clients is underway
• Workforce Solutions segment is growing fast, serving retail, hospitality and logistics
• Strong AI roadmap with seven feature launches expected in FY26
• Sales pipeline of $33 million, with approximately half in education and higher ed

The strategy is clear, deepen penetration in education and local government, upsell cloud upgrades and modules, and maintain a low churn profile. In other words, sticky revenue, long-term contracts, and increasing ARPU. The company’s recurring revenue model provides strong visibility.

Management has flagged FY27 as a key year for converting pipeline into revenue, particularly as public tenders in education accelerate. Their university pipeline is robust and under-penetrated, while local councils remain ripe for modernisation.

Despite the upside, RDY is trading on just 10x FY27 Cash EBITDA. This is too cheap for a business with net revenue retention north of 100 percent, a sticky government customer base, and strong operating leverage.

Add to this the fact that SaaS multiples globally have been recovering and that RDY’s client base is shielded from discretionary consumer cycles, and we believe RDY is not just undervalued, it is vulnerable. The stock sits squarely in the crosshairs of both strategic acquirers and private equity.

Why These Three Now?

When we talk about takeover candidates, it is not just about spotting a low PE or a recovering share price. It is about identifying businesses that possess the DNA of long-term winners, but which are mispriced due to market inefficiency, temporary issues, or simple neglect.

Each of these companies, PNC, EDU, RDY, fits that mold:

• Founder-led or aligned management teams
• Clear pathways to profitability or margin expansion
• Strong balance sheets with cash optionality
• Sector tailwinds with structural demand
• Capital management underway
• Valuations below intrinsic or replacement value

In today’s environment, where private capital is cashed up and listed equity valuations still lag, we expect strategic buyers to become more active. These types of businesses are precisely what acquirers look for, growing, cashflow-generative, and with low capex requirements.

The TAMIM Takeaway

In a market that often pays too much attention to narratives and not enough to numbers, investors would do well to look beyond the usual suspects. Pioneer Credit, Edu Holdings, and ReadyTech are all at inflection points, not just in terms of earnings, but in how the market perceives them.

These are not moonshots. They are disciplined, founder-led, profitable or about to be, businesses that we believe have significant upside, whether through fundamental rerating or strategic interest.

At TAMIM, we spend our time looking for exactly these types of opportunities. Companies that are being overlooked, underappreciated, and mispriced, but that will not stay that way for long.

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Disclosure: Pioneer Credit (ASX: PNC), Edu Holdings (ASX: EDU) and ReadyTech (ASX: RDY) are held in TAMIM Portfolios as at date of article publication. Holdings can change substantially at any given time.