Private equity giant KKR has increased its offer for scientific instruments maker Spectris to 4,175p per share, valuing the FTSE 250 company at approximately £4.2 billion.
The revised bid from KKR’s special purpose vehicle comprises 4,147p in cash plus a 28p interim dividend. This represents a 104.9% premium to Spectris’ closing price of 2,038p on 6 June, the day before the takeover battle with rival bidder Advent began.
KKR’s enhanced offer exceeds a recent competing bid from private equity firm Advent International, which raised its offer to 4,100p per share just days ago.
With the new KKR offer just 1.8% higher than Advent’s recently increased offer, it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see Advent come back to the table again.
The Spectris takeover battle began in June when Advent initially agreed a 3,763p-per-share deal with Spectris. KKR then gatecrashed the process in July with a higher 4,000p-per-share offer.
Spectris’ board has unanimously recommended the newly increased KKR offer and withdrawn its support for Advent’s bid.
The new proposal values Spectris at 20.3 times its adjusted EBITDA and implies an enterprise value of approximately £4.8 billion.
Spectris, which makes precision measurement instruments for industries including automotive and pharmaceuticals, has seen its share price more than double since the bidding began in June.