De La Rue, the firm that prints Bank of England banknotes, has announced that a partial offer for up to 40% of its shareholding has changed into a possible offer for the entire group.
Last month, the listed company said that it had started discussions with Disruptive Capital GP and Pension SuperFund Capital entities (PSFC Entities) for up to 40% of the firm at £1.25 per share.
Today it said that this was no longer under consideration, but that it had received a preliminary possible conditional cash offer for the same amount for the entire business.
De La Rue has two major sites in the North of England, with its currency and authentication bases in Gateshead and Bolton.
It stated today that the cash offer would be conditional “amongst other things” on the successful completion of the £300m sale of its Authentication division to Crane NXT, Co.
The Board added that it was now “considering its options.”
PSFC Entities has until 5pm on 6th February to either announce a firm intention to make an offer, or pull out of discussions.
De La Rue added that discussions were ongoing with other parties to dispose of its Currency division.
