Private equity continues to loom over London-listed firms, as radiology firm Medica today agreed a £269 million deal to be sold to IK Partners.
Medica is the fifth public London company in the space of a week to announce progress towards a private equity sale, amid claims that London companies are undervalued compared to their counterparts in New York.
Ecommerce business THG, payment provider Network International, smart metering firm Sureserve and engineer John Wood Group could all also find themselves snapped up.
Analysts have noted that a number of other top listed firms could follow, with supermarket giant Sainsbury’s among those that could be bought next.
IK is set to pay 212p per Medica share, 32.5% more than its closing share price on Friday.
The private equity group, founded in Sweden but now headquartered in London, said Medica would be better able to expand internationally — especially in the US — with funding from private markets.
Medica has a long-established track record of serving customers and, in turn, their patients in telemedicine, across the UK and Ireland in teleradiology and in the US in complex imaging services.
“We believe that under [IK’s] ownership, Medica will be able to invest further in its people, technology, and new capabilities which will allow it to better serve its customers, healthcare professionals and ultimately, continue to help improve patient outcomes,” Pete Wilson, head of IK Partners’ UK Mid Cap strategy, said.
Medica chairman Roy Davis said the bid “represents an attractive and certain value” for shareholders.
“The board of Medica believes that IK Partners is a strong and credible partner for the business and is well positioned to support its next phase of development, including accelerating investment in the company which will benefit our customers and their patients going forward,” he said.
The Medica board added that they had opened discussions with multiple parties following “unsolicited inbound interest” before accepting the IK bid.
Shares were up 52p today to the bid price of 212p.
