International fund and corporate administrator Sanne Group has opened M&A negotiations with private equity group Cinven following an acquisition proposal.
Cinven offered to buy the company at 875p ($12.4, €10.1) per share. This is the fifth M&A bid Sanne has received from Cinven after it rejected the four submitted beforehand.
The fund administrator’s board has now asked the takeover panel to extend the deadline by which Cinven must make a firm offer following talks.
There is no certainty, however, that the private equity group will ultimately make a concrete offer. Sanne said in a stock exchange filing that this “must now be made by not later than 5.00pm on 9 July 2021. This deadline can be extended by the board of Sanne, with the consent of the takeover panel”.
Following the announcement, Sanne shares rose 10.9% in early trading, and were up 11.4% at the time of publication.
‘Willing’
Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Energy and persistence conquer all things, at least according to Benjamin Franklin, and Cinven has been leaning heavily on the latter of the two in its attempt to snap up Sanne Group.
“The private equity giant’s fifth offer has finally drawn the Sanne board to the negotiating table.
“Having firmly rejected the previous four offers, the move suggests the Sanne board are now at least willing to consider a sale. Whether Cinven will need to put a cherry on top of their 875p a share offer to get the board to bite remains to be seen.”
