LONDON (Dow Jones)--Electronic equipment distributor Elektron PLC (EKT.LN) Friday said it is making a recommended offer to buy medical instruments maker Hartest Holdings PLC (HTH.LN) in a cash deal that values the company at GBP8.2 million. Elektron is making the mandatory 90 pence a share offer for the shares it doesn't already own in Hartest after it gained more than 53% of Hartest's share capital. The offer price is the highest price it has paid for Hartest shares in the last year and represents a premium of about 5.3% to Hartest's closing share price Thursday of 85.5 pence. The recommended offer values Hartest's entire issued share capital at about GBP7.7 million and its entire issued and to be issued share capital at about GBP8.2 million. Essex, U.K.-based Elektron expects to benefit from Hartest's established presence in India and said Hartest's business will benefit from its existing global presence. It added that the combined business is expected to be more attractive to a wider range of investors. Earlier, Elektron acquired more than 2.5 million shares in Hartest at 90 pence each from Peter Gyllenhammar, which represents just under 30% of the existing issued share capital of Hartest. Before this, Elektron owned about 23% of Hartest's existing issued share capital. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; hannah.benjamin@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 30, 2010 04:37 ET (08:37 GMT)