US-based Verint to take over EG Solutions for £26.3m

Back-office workforce optimisation company EG Solutions has agreed to be taken over by US data analytics group Verint WS Holdings for £26.3m in cash.

Under the terms of the offer, each EG shareholder will be entitled to receive 112.5p in cash, which is a 53% premium to the volume-weighted average share price of 73.5p for the six-month period to 4 September, which was the last practicable data before the announcement. However, it's a discount of around 11% to the closing share price of 126.5p on Monday.

The offer is conditional on approval by 75% of EG's shareholders and the company's directors intend to unanimously recommend that they vote in favour of the deal. Verint said it has already received irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing just under 70% of the shares, versus the 75% needed for the offer to become unconditional.

EG's non-executive chairman Nigel Payne said the deal represents "an attractive exit price when viewed against the fundamentals of the business, against the way comparable small technology companies are currently valued by the market and importantly against what we believe was the last institutional price at which EG’s shares traded".

"Since 23 May 2017, we believe there have not been any institutional trades and the median trade is only 2,000 shares with all purchases and sales since that date being driven by small volume trades. Other than in the period since late July 2017, we also believe that there have been no trades in EG shares at a level at or above the offer price in the last decade.”

At 1430 BST, the shares were down 12.4% to 110p.