(Sharecast News) - Telit rejected a £259m takeover approach from Dbay Advisors but said it was still in talks with the private equity firm and u-blox about a possible deal.
Dbay said on Friday it was considering a cash offer of £1.90 for each of Telit's shares - up from an earlier approach of £1.75 per share. In a statement later that day Dbay said it had bought Telit shares and that the highest price it paid was £1.948p a share.
Under takeover rules any offer for Telit by Dbay would have to be at or above the highest price the buyout firm paid for the shares. An offer at that price would value Telit at about £259m.
Telit said: "The board of Telit believes that an offer at £1.948 per Telit share would fundamentally undervalue Telit. As highlighted in the trading update released on 10 November 2020, Telit has shown resilience despite continued lockdown measures across the company's markets and the impact of the pandemic on customer spending."
U-blox, Telit's Swiss rival, has made an all-share approach for the internet of things enabler valuing the company at £2.50 a share or about £333m. Telit has also rejected an approach from California-based Lantronix.
Dbay said on Friday that as a Telit shareholder it had looked at u-blox's proposal and rejected it. Telit responded on Monday by saying a deal with u-blox had industrial logic but that a takeover would have to reflect Telit's value.
"Telit is continuing commercial discussions with both u-blox and Dbay with a view to ensuring that any possible transaction with either party would be in the best interests of all shareholders, whether large or small," Telit said.
Telit shares fell 0.5% to 201p at 09:53 GMT. The shares are up 26% in 2020 and have more than doubled from a low of 80p in March.
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