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Haynes flies on takeover offer

Bid represents a 62 per cent premium to prior day’s close
February 13, 2020

Haynes (HYNS) – a supplier of manuals and technical data to the car industry – has received a £115m takeover offer, marking a happy end to the sale process that it launched last autumn. The publishing group’s shares soared by as much as 60 per cent on the news. Its suitor is Infopro Digital, one of the leading automotive data companies in Europe.

IC TIP: Await documents at 688p

The deal will see Infopro pay 700p per Haynes share – representing a huge premium of 62 per cent to the latter’s prior-day closing price, and a 73 per cent premium to the closing price of 405p on 14 November when Haynes said it was looking for a buyer. Infopro thinks plans to improve performance could be better implemented in a private-company environment, with the support and capital that Infopro can provide. The offer also presents an opportunity for Haynes investors to cash in at a good price, in light of the group’s relative illiquidity as a small plc.