Shares of British Pharmaceuticals company Vectura Group PLC (LON: VEC) soared 32.1% after announcing that it had agreed to a £958m takeover offer from American private equity firm The Carlyle Group.
The takeover will see Vectura Group shareholders receive 136p for each share they own plus a 19p dividend, representing a 32% premium to the company’s closing price yesterday.
Vectura provides innovative inhaled drug delivery solutions that enable partners to bring their medicines to patients and has made significant progress executing its strategy to become a leading inhalation-focused CDMO or contract manufacturing organisation.
The company’s board voted unanimously to recommend that shareholders accept the deal from Carlyle Group, which is the latest in a string of acquisitions targeted at British pubic companies, which many consider as being cheaply valued.
Earlier today, we reported on another UK publicly listed company acquisition where Spire Healthcare received an acquisition offer from Australia’s Ramsay Healthcare. British companies continue to attract attention from global investors.
Investors have discovered that British public companies have cheaper valuations than other developed countries led by the United States, whose public companies are expensively values compared to historical valuations.
Bruno Angelici, Vectura’s Chairman, said: “While the Vectura Directors remain confident in the long term fundamentals of the Vectura Group, we believe that this is an attractive offer for Vectura Shareholders, which secures the delivery of future value for Vectura Shareholders in cash today. The offer reflects the quality, strength and long term performance of Vectura's businesses and its future growth potential.”
The acquisition has to clear regulatory hurdles, including the satisfaction or waiver of the approval of the UK National Security and Investment Condition, the French Foreign Investment Condition and the German Foreign Investment Condition, among others.
Vectura share price.
Vectura shares jumped 32.1% higher to trade at 162.15p, rallying from Tuesday’s closing price of 122.70p.
