FTSE 250 fintech rejects takeover offer from US payments giant Corpay
Financial services firm Alpha Group International has turned down a takeover bid from US business payments giant Corpay.
Alpha, which provides fintech and consultancy services, announced last Friday that it was in discussions with Corpay regarding a potential cash offer.
But the London-based firm told investors on Tuesday that its board had unanimously rejected the proposal, having 'carefully considered' it with financial advisers.
Under City takeover rules, Corpay now has until 5pm on 30 May to put forward a concrete offer for Alpha or walk away.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, the S&P 500 company was previously known as Fleetcor and designs tools that allow businesses to pay vendors.
It achieved record turnover of almost $4billion last year, alongside an adjusted net income of $1.4billion.
Alpha Group International shares were 5.7 per cent up at £29.70 on late Tuesday afternoon, making them one of the FTSE 250's biggest risers.
Alpha's rejection of Corpay's approach comes on the same day Deliveroo agreed to a £2.9billion takeover by fellow takeaway giant DoorDash.
Deliveroo's co-founder, Will Shu, could make a reported £172million from the sale, given his 6.4 per cent stake in the firm.
The London-listed platform only scored its first annual profit last year after struggling since its founding in 2013 with massive losses caused by high staff, marketing and technology costs from pursuing breakneck expansion.
Should the acquisition be finalised, DoorDash will have a presence in nine countries where it does not currently operate, including the UK, Ireland, France and Italy.
It will also represent another loss for the London Stock Exchange, which is losing multiple prominent companies to foreign predators.
Among the UK groups bought last year were music rights investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund, cybersecurity specialist Darktrace, and building products manufacturer Tyman.
And since the start of 2025, Bank of England currency printer De La Rue, GP surgeries owner Assura, and investment firm BBGI Global Infrastructure have all struck takeover deals.
Many analysts have blamed the high level of acquisition activity on the discounted valuations possessed by British businesses.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'European shares remain cheap relative to the US market despite greater investor interest this year.
'That means markets like the UK are still ripe for M&A given widespread valuation opportunities. If a foreign or domestic company was in the mood to do deals, there remain plenty of UK-listed stocks ripe for the taking.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Newsom is warned of ‘criminal tax evasion' if he withholds federal taxes
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has warned California governor Gavin Newsom that he would be guilty of 'criminal tax evasion' if he withholds his state's tax payments to the federal government amid threats of a funding cut by Donald Trump. Newsom had threatened to cut tax payments to the federal government two days ago after reports that Trump was preparing huge federal funding cuts targeting Democrat-dominated California, including its state university system. 'Gavin Newsom is threatening to commit criminal tax evasion,' Bessent said in a post on X. 'His plan: defraud the American taxpayer and leave California residents on the hook for unpaid federal taxes.' Bessent continued: 'I am certain most California businesses know that failing to pay taxes owed to the Treasury constitutes tax evasion and have no intention of following the dangerous path Governor Gavin Newsom is threatening.' He described Newsom's comments as 'extremely reckless' and advised the governor to come up with a tax-cutting plan for California that mirrored Trump's federal tax cutting plan, 'instead of committing criminal tax evasion'. The treasury secretary's comments came after Newsom posted on Friday that 'Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it's time to cut that off, Donald Trump.' The California governor linked to a CNN report that the Trump administration is preparing to cancel some federal funding for California and federal agencies had been directed to identify grants that could be withheld, including the University of California and California state university systems. In a statement on Friday, the White House spokesperson Kush Desai criticized California's energy, immigration and other positions as 'lunatic anti-energy, soft-on-crime, pro-child mutilation, and pro-sanctuary policies'. 'No taxpayer should be forced to fund the demise of our country,' Desai said, but he added that 'No final decisions, however, on any potential future action by the Administration have been made, and any discussion suggesting otherwise should be considered pure speculation.' Newsom and Trump are accustomed to a war of words, including threats to withhold funding. The administration recently cut $126m in flood prevention funding projects, and Trump has threatened 'large-scale fines' on the state after transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed in the long jump, high jump and triple jump events at the California Interscholastic Federation track and field championships. But the reported threat to cut off federal funding to California's university system appears to have pushed California officials into threats of retaliation. Soon before Newsom made his threat, California assembly speaker Robert Rivas described the rumored grant cancellations as 'unconstitutional and vindictive.' 'We're the nation's economic engine and the largest donor state, and deserve our fair share,' Rivas wrote. 'I'll use every legal and constitutional tool available to defend CA – we must look at every option, including withholding federal taxes.'
The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Rachel Reeves in stand-off over policing and council budgets days before spending review
Rachel Reeves has been locked in a standoff over the policing and council budgets just days before this week's spending review, which is set to give billions to the NHS, defence and technology. Yvette Cooper's Home Office and Angela Rayner's housing and local government ministry were the two departments still at the negotiating table on Sunday fighting for more cash, after weeks of trying to reach a settlement. Whitehall sources said the policing budget would not face a real terms cut, but there was still disagreement over the level of investment needed for the Home Office to meet its commitments. Rayner's department is understood to have reached an agreement with the Treasury late on Sunday night after last-minute wrangling over housing, local councils and growth funds. However, any failure to strike a deal would raise the prospect of a budget being imposed on an unwilling department. The spending review, taking place on Wednesday, is a chance for Reeves to hold up billions of pounds of capital spending as a sign she is working to repair public services after years of Tory austerity. After tweaking her fiscal rules last autumn, she has an additional £113bn funded by borrowing for capital spending. Her plans will include £86bn for science and technology across four years and an extra £4.5bn for schools – taking funding per pupil to its highest level ever. However, day-to-day spending is more constrained in some areas, while the NHS and defence swallow up higher allocations. As well as policing, the Home Office budget covers the border force and spending on asylum costs, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been battling for funds for the affordable homes programme, councils, homelessness and regional growth. Labour has manifesto pledges to build 1.5m homes and deliver 13,000 new police officers. Pressed on the policing budget, the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, said Home Office and others would have to 'do their bit'. Funding for the police has the potential to become a politically difficult issue for Keir Starmer. Tory former shadow cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has been campaigning against transport fare dodging and Nigel Farage's Reform are also highlighting the issue. Asked about which public services will be prioritised, Kyle said 'every part of our society is struggling' and numerous sectors had asked Reeves for more money. 'On the fact that the police have been writing to the chancellor, they have,' he told the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme. 'We also have letters from the universities, we have letters from doctors about the health service, we have letters from campaigners for child poverty writing to us, and other aspects of challenges in Britain at the moment. 'Every part of our society is struggling because of the inheritance that we had as a country and as a government.' He pointed to the £1.1bn extra funding already earmarked for police this year, as he defended Reeves's handling of the spending review process. 'We expect the police to start embracing the change they need to do, to do their bit for change as well. We are doing our bit,' Kyle said. 'You see a chancellor that is striving to get investment to the key parts of our country that needs it the most … You will see the priorities of this government reflected in the spending review, which sets the departmental spending into the long term. 'But this is a partnership. Yes, the Treasury needs to find more money for those key priorities, but the people delivering them need to do their bit as well.' While some areas of spending may be cut or receive only low increases, the NHS is set to receive a boost of up to £30bn by 2028, while defence spending is expected to rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. Kyle defended the chancellor's approach to public spending, saying she was like Apple founder Steve Jobs who turned the company around when it was 90 days from insolvency. He told Sky News's Trevor Phllips: 'Now Steve Jobs turned it around by inventing the iMac, moving to a series of products like the iPod. 'Now we're starting to invest in the vaccine processes of the future. Some of the hi-tech solutions that are going to be high growth. We're investing in our space sector. All these really high, highly innovative sectors. 'We are investing into those key innovations of the future. We know that we cannot break this vicious cycle of high tax and low growth by doing the same as we always have done. We have to innovate our way out of this and we are doing so by investing in those high-growth sectors.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
10pm is the new 7: restaurants open late as Londoners stay out
If New York is the city that never sleeps, London is the city that likes to go to bed early. Restrictive licensing laws, residents' eagerness to file noise complaints, staffing issues, high rents and a cost of living crisis have combined to leave the capital with a sedate late-night offering. But as pubs close earlier and there are fewer dancefloors on which to shake your hips, another gathering place is emerging for those wanting to kick back into the wee hours — the restaurant table. Central London is far from the 24-hour party envisaged by Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor, and the 7pm to 8pm reservations window remains the most coveted, but upmarket restaurants are offering later booking slots as demand rises. Mountain in Soho, described as the 'most exciting restaurant this year' in a 2023 Times review, has pushed back its last reservation slot to 10.30pm. Tomos Parry, the owner, who also founded Brat in Shoreditch, said he was encouraged by the green shoots of a late-night dining revival. 'It's not back to those massive numbers and super-late night dining of the 1990s and 2000s but it is certainly starting to come back,' he said. 'II would love late-night dining to come back much stronger.' • How to eat out at expensive restaurants on a budget Parry said that the demand was driven partly by the return of a post-theatre dining crowd. Tourists staying at the growing crop of city-centre hotels and keen to try the city's most-hyped restaurants were also more willing to take slots after 9pm. Speedboat Bar, a thriving restaurant styled on a Thai sports bar, also accepts bookings at 10.30pm. On Friday and Saturday, it offers a late-night food menu from 11pm to 12.30am. At the recently-opened Noodle and Beer in Chinatown, tables can be reserved until 1.45am on Saturdays. At the Dover, a New York-styled Italian restaurant, guests can book a table until 11.30pm from Thursday to Saturday, when it will be between 80 and 90 per cent full. Jeremy King, one of Britain's most respected restaurateurs, who founded The Wolseley, The Delaunay, The Ivy and Le Caprice, called last month for a return to 1980s excess. • Giles Coren: my top 10 London restaurants if money were no object Recalling how, when he started in hospitality in the 1970s, last orders were often taken at 1am, King said: 'Now, it's almost impossible to get anything [to eat] after 10pm. I don't fully understand why it happened but I'm determined to redress the situation.' King has begun offering a 25 per cent discount for those who dine after 9.45pm at his restaurants, Arlington and The Park. 'I want to encourage people to rediscover the fun of late-night dining,' he told the Sunday Times. The shift towards earlier dining in London's restaurants was hastened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended the hospitality sector and changed dining habits to such an extent that the efforts of King and others may be futile. Healthy lifestyle choices are leading diners to prioritise sleep over late-night indulgence and flexible working has helped make 6pm — before the evening rush — an increasingly desirable slot. Earlier reservations are popular with parents and a younger crowd who often drink less and may not bookend meals with drinks elsewhere. In May, online booking site OpenTable reported a 6 per cent increase from January for tables between 4pm and 6pm across Britain. Leading restaurants have embraced the change to get people through the doors earlier. At Portland, a Michelin star restaurant in Fitzrovia, those who book between 5.30pm and 6.30pm are offered a special menu at £55, rather than its normal £110-per-head tasting menu.
