British financier Edi Truell has launched a £245million swoop on banknote firm De La Rue.
Pensions and private equity entrepreneur Truell has offered £1.25 per share for the entire company, having previously made an approach for 40 per cent of the firm at that price.
The City veteran has until 5pm on February 6 to make a firm bid for the 212-year-old company or walk away.
A deal would see the Hampshire firm leave the London stock market after 78 years, in a major blow to the exchange.
Truell, 62, is renowned for his aggressive dealmaking and oversees billions of pounds via his private equity fund.
He founded and led buyout firm Duke Street Capital from 1998 to 2005 and currently owns Disruptive Capital.
All in: Edi Truell (pictured) has offered to pay £1.25 per share for the whole of De La Rue having previously made an approach for 40% of the firm at the same price
He also was a special economic adviser to Boris Johnson when he was London mayor.
De La Rue prints banknotes for over half the world’s central banks, including the Bank of England.
It has also printed newspapers, playing cards, stamps, greetings cards and passports, and listed in London in 1947.
A consortium including Disruptive Capital GP and Pension SuperFund Capital was in talks last month about buying a 40 per cent stake in De La Rue.
The group has now tabled a potential takeover offer at a near-22 per cent premium to Tuesday’s closing price. Shares rose 8.3 per cent, or 85p, to 111p yesterday.
The firm told shareholders that it was ‘considering its options’. The offer for part of the business is no longer being considered, De La Rue said.
It has been trying to bolster its finances after a surge in contactless payments since the Covid pandemic.
Orders have picked up, but it is still struggling to cut debt and reduce its pension deficit.
An offer from Truell is conditional on the successful, previously announced, sale of De La Rue’s authentication division to American tech firm Crane NXT for £300million, it said.
The firm has also been mulling the sale of its currency division and confirmed that talks were ongoing.
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