(Reuters) -De La Rue has received a takeover proposal from a consortium of British financier Edi Truell’s companies, sending shares in the UK banknote printer up 14% on Thursday.
The company had been in talks last month about selling a 40% stake to the consortium including Truell’s Disruptive Capital GP and Pension SuperFund Capital at a proposed price of 125 pence per share.
The consortium has now tabled a potential takeover offer at the same 125 pence per share, a nearly 22% premium to the company’s last closing price to value it at around 245 million pounds ($301 million).
The offer is conditional on the sale of De La Rue’s authentication arm and the consortium has until Feb. 6 to make a firm offer or walk away.
De La Rue’s shares were the top percentage gainer on the FTSE smallcap index after jumping earlier in the day when Sky News reported the takeover offer.
De La Rue, which printed the new King Charles III currency notes in the UK, has been trying to bolster its finances since a surge in contactless transactions during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant hit to its order book.
While orders have started to pick up, De La Rue is still struggling to cut debt and reduce its pension deficit, a legacy issue that has halted its shareholder returns.
Industry veteran Truell oversees billions via his private equity funds. He recently offered to put “a couple of hundred million” pounds into Thames Water’s pension scheme in a capital-backed deal through Pension SuperFund Capital.
($1 = 0.8135 pounds)
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Janane Venkatraman, Kirsten Donovan)
