US firm in £263m takeover bid for Bank of England banknote printer
De La Rue's shares climbed by as much as 16% on Tuesday morning after the company released a statement to investors saying that its board had recommended shareholders accept Atlas's offer of 130p per share, which valued the company at £263m.
The all-cash takeover bid was at a 16% premium to De La Rue's closing price on Monday, which the company board described as 'fair and reasonable'.
The City financier Edi Truell, however, is reportedly considering a higher offer of 132.17p per share, which could trigger a bidding war.
Investment funds controlled by Truell, a pensions and private equity entrepreneur, have made the proposal to De La Rue, as first reported by Sky News.
The company said it had not received a firm offer from Truell, and released a further statement later on Tuesday reaffirming its recommendation of the Atlas offer.
'It would take something very significant for the board to make any other decision right now, and I don't see that happening,' said De La Rue's chief executive, Clive Vacher.
The Atlas offer would give De La Rue the benefit of backing from a 'financially strong company', he said. 'We are expecting continuity of strategy, continuity of management, continuity of employees, continuity of location and continuity of customers.'
The sale to Atlas, which would mean De La Rue delisting from the London Stock Exchange, would be subject to shareholder approval and regulatory clearance. Vacher said he hoped the deal could be completed by early summer.
The company, which is headquartered in Basingstoke, first confirmed in January that it was in takeover talks with Disruptive Capital GP and Pension SuperFund Capital (PSFC), founded by Truell.
The deal with PSFC was conditional on the completion of De La Rue's £300m sale of its authentication division to Crane NXT, which was announced in October 2024. The company expects that sale to complete on 1 May.
The long-running takeover process took another turn in February, when De La Rue launched a formal sale process after it said it had received 'preliminary approaches' from more than one potential bidder.
The company has faced a string of challenges, including a widespread fall in the use of cash, which accelerated during the pandemic, and it has issued a number of profit warnings in recent years.
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The company stopped production of banknotes and UK passports at its plant in Gateshead in 2020 after it lost out on the contract to print post-Brexit blue passports to the Franco-Dutch company Gemalto.
After the completion of the sale of its authentication business, De La Rue will employ about 1,250 people, of whom just over half are based in the UK.
Atlas has said that as part of its offer it would cut about 50 jobs at the company, or 4% of the workforce, mainly in positions related to being a listed business.
The company can trace its history back to 1813, when Thomas de la Rue founded it as a printing business in Guernsey, before setting up in London a decade later selling straw hats and stationery.
It has a contract with the Bank of England to run the central bank's printing facility in Debden, Essex, and was involved in printing millions of new banknotes featuring the image of King Charles before his coronation.
Truell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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