Basingstoke UK bank note printer in takeover talks
De La Rue has received a takeover proposal from a consortium of British financier Edi Truell companies.
Established more than 200 years ago, Basingstoke-based De La Rue prints currency notes for the UK government and others around the world, and a range of other authentication products.
Last month the Board of De La Rue confirmed that, while it had not received an offer for the whole Company, it was in discussions with Disruptive Capital GP Limited and Pension SuperFund Capital entities regarding a proposal to take a possible equity stake in the business.
The proposal received in relation to a possible partial offer for up to 40 per cent of the issued share capital of De La Rue was £1.25 per share.
According to Reuters, the consortium has now tabled a potential takeover offer at the same 125 pence per share – a nearly 22 per cent premium to the company's last closing price to value it at around £245 million.
In its half year results, for the six months ended 28 September 2024 (published in December), the company announced an operating profit of £7.3 million, on currency revenues of £94.9 million and authentication revenues of £50.2, and an order book of £251.7 million.
Announcing these results in December, Clive Vacher, CEO of De La Rue, said: “We have made substantial progress in 2024 both operationally and strategically. We have reached agreement for a sale of Authentication to Crane NXT for £300 million and completion of the Authentication sale will allow us to repay both our existing banking facilities in full and materially reduce the remaining deficit on our legacy defined benefit pension scheme.
“We have also built up the Currency order book to the highest levels seen for at least the last five years. The material new orders that we have won in recent months will begin to convert into increased revenue as we move into the next financial year and solidly underpin our growth expectations.
“With these firm foundations, our ongoing Currency business is now well positioned to take full advantage of an improving market, with a substantial upward step change in activity in 2025 and beyond.”
De La Rue employs more than 3,000 across the world, including at its Basingstoke headquarters.
