The CEO of Daisy and his buyout partners now have until 6 October to formalise their prospective £1.90 per share offer (US$3.11) to acquire the British telecoms business.
A consortium made up of Daisy’s CEO Matthew Riley, asset manager Toscafund and…
The CEO of Daisy and his buyout partners now have until 6 October to formalise their prospective £1.90 per share offer (US$3.11) to acquire the British telecoms business.
A consortium made up of Daisy’s CEO Matthew Riley, asset manager Toscafund and private equity firm Penta made a preliminary approach in late July, which valued Daisy at £507m (US$817m).
Under UK takeover law, the buyers had until 10 September to make a binding offer but managed to extend the deadline to 22 September. They now have pushed out the date once again to 6 October.
The UK’s Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has granted the latest extension to allow the consortium to “consider and finalise certain aspects of its proposal”.
Riley, who has led the AIM-listed telco since founding it in 1991, already has a stake of roughly 23%, while Toscafund holds about 28.5%.
Penta sold its UK B2B telco SpiriTel to Daisy back in 2010 for £27m (US$45m). SpiriTel, like Daisy, was a growth vehicle that rapidly gained scale by consolidating the country’s fragmented reseller marketplace.
It was reported earlier this year that Daisy had attracted the interest of John Malone’s cable giant Liberty Global, which held talks over a takeover deal worth at least £500m (US$841m). However, negotiations fell apart because Daisy was reported to want a further £100m (US$168m).
Liberum is Daisy’s nominated adviser, and is also advising on the UK takeover code. Oakley Capital is its financial adviser. Toscafund listed JP Morgan for enquiries.
Daisy’s shares are currently trading at £1.84 and the telco has a market capitalisation of £491m.
