TP Group shares surge 170% as AIM-listed engineering firm agrees to £17.5m takeover by Science Group
- Science Group to pay 2.25p for each TP share it does not already own
- That is a premium of around 190% to the closing price of 0.78p on Friday
- Deal puts an end to a bitter bidding battle that first started over a year ago
AIM-listed engineer TP Group has agreed to a £17.5million takeover by Science Group, putting an end to a bitter bidding battle that first started over a year ago.
TP shares surged 170 per cent after it said Science Group would pay 2.25p for each TP share it does not already own, a premium of around 190 per cent to the closing price of 0.78p on Friday.
Science Group, which already owns a near-28 per cent stake in TP, started building its holding in August last year, when it repeatedly tried to buy the company only to have its offers rejected by TP’s board.
TP advises the British Antarctic Survey on how to improve infrastructure in Antarctic
TP is a company with a wide remit – it makes the hydrogen fuel cell systems to power the UK’s first hydrogen trains, runs helicopter simulations and even provides technical advice to the British Antarctic Survey on how to improve infrastructure in Antarctica.
It works in aerospace and defence too, with customers including BAE Systems, the European Space Agency, Babcock and the Ministry of Defence.
Science Group is a Cambridge-based consultancy offering a range of services, such as advising companies on the regulatory boxes they need to tick to bring their products to market.
It also has a division called Frontier Smart Technologies, which makes chips for DAB digital radios that are used in 50million devices worldwide.
In a statement, Science Group said that ‘there are significant potential synergies with TP Group and a combination would be attractive to the employees and customers of both organisations’.
TP recommended the deal to its shareholders, saying it represented ‘an acceptable valuation’ and provided ‘certainty of a cash exit’ for investors ‘in volatile and challenging market conditions’.
‘The certainty of the cash offer should be weighed against the inherent uncertainty of the delivery of the future value that exists in the business, including general uncertain economic and market conditions,’ it added.
TP shares were up 167 per cent to 2.07p in morning trading on Monday, while Science Group shares rose 2.1 per cent to 388p.
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