Jefferies downgrades Network International to ‘hold’

Jefferies downgraded payments firm Network International on Monday to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and lifted the price target to 400p from 360p as it said that a second non-binding bid by private equity makes a take private more likely.

Network International announced on Friday that it had received a "highly preliminary" 400p a share cash offer from Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.

This followed an earlier bid from a consortium of CVC Capital Partners and Francisco Partners at about 387p a share.

Jefferies said it believes the chances of both bidders walking away seem low at this point.

"Our new price target is in-line with the latest non-binding offer by PE firm Brookfield, following a non-binding offer by the consortium this week," it said.

"The current share price suggests the market sees a good chance that the latest offer, or something modestly above that, will now be successful."