De La Rue: Bank of England supplier’s stock surges on takeover offer
Bank of England supplier De La Rue has received a £246m takeover offer, according to reports, sending its stock price surging more than 12 per cent.
The banknote printer has been offered 125p a share in a conditional offer, roughly 25 per cent higher than its stock price before the news, by companies founded by private entrepreneur Edi Truell.
The takeover offer is reportedly conditional on the £300m sale of its authentication arm to New York-listed Crane NXT, which was announced in October.
The sale came after a series of problems for the company, most recently being forced to defer significant pension payments into its retirement pot.
Last month, the company announced it had been approached by Truell and companies he founded, Disruptive Capital GP and Pension SuperFund Capital, to acquire as much as 40 per cent of the firm at the same 125p price.
Truell told the FT at the time that he was not looking to take a majority stake in the firm, adding that he had “been in conversations for some time” about taking a stake in the printer.
De La Rue said today that the partial offer was no longer under consideration.
In July, De La Rue confirmed it was in discussions to sell off a portion of the company, which was announced alongside the printer’s full year results that had already been delayed in order for the firm to find a potential suitor.
It posted sliding earnings as forecast due to what it described as “substantial trading difficulties”, as revenue dropped 11.3 per cent from £350m to £310m.
However, the group’s authentication arm’s revenue grew 12.5 per cent, surpassing the £100m target set by the company.
De La Rue’s stock price is up more than 30 per cent over the last year, after reaching its lowest level ever in June 2023.
Truell has until 5pm on 6 February to make a firm offer according to the UK Takeover Code.
The takeover news was first reported by Mark Kleinman of Sky News.