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The company that prints banknotes for the Bank of England is at the point of a historical takeover that it would see for the first time since it was owned by private equity investors for the first time since it was 212 years ago.
Sky News has learned that Atlas Holdings, an US buyout firm, is advanced with an offer of 130p-a share for De la Rue.
The leading investors of the London listed company are alleged to have been asked to offer irrevocable businesses to accept the offer, with one shareholder saying that an agreement recommended by De la Rue’s board will probably be announced on Tuesday morning.
If completed, a takeover agreement would terminate almost 80 years of the status of De la Rue as a London stock list business, after its public company’s debut in 1947.
Atlas Holdings, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, focuses on acquiring companies in sectors such as industries, trade and energy.
Among the businesses he owns in Europe are London-based graphic and creative services agency ASG and Bovis, a British construction services group.
Bank resources said the 130P-A share offer for De la Rue would represent a robust premium to a price that sank below 50p in mid-2023, but which would have closed at 112p on Monday night.
Atlas Holdings apparently drafted Lazard bankers to advise, while Deutsche Numis is notified.
The offer of Atlas Holdings does not include De la Rue’s verification division, which is sold to the US listed Crane NXT in a £ 300m transaction, which took a further step to complete last week.
The proceeds from the agreement were earmarked to repay loans and reduce its lack of pension scheme.
De la Rue’s currency is printing money for a large number of central banks around the world, including in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe.
It has pressure places in the UK, Kenya, Malta and Sri Lanka.
In 2020, the Bank of England announced that it had extended De la Rue’s contract from the end of 2025 to 2028.
At the time, there was 4.4 billion bank or England notes in circulation with a collective value of approximately £ 82bn.
De la Rue has performed a formal sales process under the rules of the take -off panel, with a series of parties allegedly expressing an interest in it since the period late last year.
Among his potential sugars was Edi Truell, the prominent city financier and pension entrepreneur, who presented a proposal of 125p A share in January.
De la Rue’s directors are investigating options in recent months to maximize the value for prolonged shareholders, including a standalone sale of the currency businesses or other proposals to obtain the entire business.
The group’s balance sheet has been under pressure for years, with doubt at some point whether it can prevent insolvency.
After being through a series of corporate accidents, including a series of profit warnings, a public drive with his auditor and challenges in his operations in countries, including India and Kenya, it was forced to seek breathing space of pension trustees by postponing tuised millions of pounds of payments in his pension scheme.
Shortly thereafter, the company in Clive Whily, a seasoned corporate problem solver, as chairman, with a mandate to restore its battered finances, parachuting.
Since then, its share has recovered strongly and has been up 37% over the past year.
De la Rue traces his roots back to 1813, when Thomas de la Rue erected a printing.
Eight years later, he began to produce straw hats and then went to stationery, according to an official history of the company.
The first paper money was produced for the government of Mauritius in 1860, and in 1914 it began to push ten-shilling notes for the British government on the outbreak of the First World War.
De la Rue was contacted for comment, while Atlas Holdings could not be reached for comment on Monday night.
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