Advent receives board approval for £1bn Laird take-private

Kenny Wastell
01 March 2018

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Advent International has secured agreement from the board of Laird to wholly acquire the listed electronics manufacturing business in a take-private deal valued at ТЃ1bn.

The proposed deal would value shares in Laird at 200 pence apiece, equivalent to a 72.6% premium on the 115.9 pence closing price on 28 February.

The listed company's board have unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the deal at a general meeting, saying in a statement that they consider the offer to be "fair and reasonable".

Advent has received irrevocable undertakings or letters of intent from shareholders with a combined 27.04% stake in Laird. It requires approval from shareholders accounting for a total of 75% or more in order to be successful.

Advent is currently investing from Advent International GPE VIII, a $13bn vehicle that held its final close in March 2016 and was 45% deployed as of September 2017, according to Unquote Data.

Headquartered in London and founded in 1903 via the merger of Birkenhead Ironworks and Charles Cammell & Company, Laird produces components and products related to wireless connectivity and anti-interference.

Its products are used in the application of technology-enabled developments in the automotive, industrials and medical spaces, in addition to traditional technology sectors such as telecommunications, IT and mobile devices.

The business generated revenues of £936.6m in 2017 with underlying EBITDA of £122.4m, according to publicly available documents. It has a headcount of 9,664 across 48 sites in 16 countries. These sites include 20 engineering and manufacturing facilities and 18 design centres.

Rothschild is acting as lead financial adviser to Laird, while JP Morgan Cazenove and Numis are acting as financial advisers and corporate brokers. Citigroup is acting as financial adviser and corporate broker to Advent, while Goldman Sachs is acting as financial adviser and Paul Hastings as legal adviser.