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Private equity group Advent International is closing in on a £4.4bn acquisition for industrial group Spectris, in the latest potential takeover of a London-listed company.
The US buyout firm and Spectris said they were in talks on a possible cash deal that would see Advent pay £37.63 a share for the precision measurement instruments maker following multiple approaches.
Spectris said its board would be minded to unanimously recommend the deal to shareholders should Advent make a firm offer.
Spectris, a member of the mid-cap FTSE 250, provides high-tech instruments to companies in industries including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. It reported sales of £299mn in the first quarter, a decline from the same period last year amid weakness in markets including automotive, chips and materials.
The deal would value Spectris’s equity at more than £3.7bn, and give the company a £4.4bn enterprise valuation including debt.
Under UK takeover regulations, Advent has until July 7 to make a firm offer or walk away.
Shares in Spectris surged 69 per cent on Monday to trade at more than £34 a share. The company reached a record high of £38.7 a share in 2021.
Analysts at Investec said Advent’s approach was a “good offer”, adding in a note that trade buyers “are unlikely to counter-offer at this level”.
A takeover of Spectris by Advent would be the latest delisting of a London-listed group as advisers warn that companies on the bourse are being undervalued by investors.
DoorDash’s takeover of Deliveroo, EQT’s acquisition of Keywords Studios and Thoma Bravo’s deal for Darktrace are among the buyouts of UK-listed groups.
Advent’s interest in Spectris, which was first reported by Bloomberg, was disclosed on the same day US semiconductor group Qualcomm agreed a $2.4bn deal to buy London-listed chip designer Alphawave.
The wave of take-private deals comes as the UK simultaneously battles to prevent large public companies from moving their listings overseas, particularly to New York.
Fintech group Wise last week announced plans to follow betting group Flutter, plumbing supplier Ferguson and building materials group CRH by moving its primary listing to the US.
