The largest shareholder of Wiltshire over-the-counter and prescription drugs firm Alliance Pharma has increased its takeover offer to £362m.
The all-cash offer will see asset manager DBAY Advisors, which has a 27.9% stake in the Chippenham-based business, paying out 64.75p per share.
AIM-listed Alliance Pharma said on Monday (March 10) the final increased cash offer – £12 more than DBAY Advisors first offered in January – would not change the board’s strategic plans for Alliance, its directors, management, employees, pensions, research and development, or locations.
It said it was “fair and reasonable” and that it would recommend shareholders voted in favour of the scheme.
DBAY Advisors previously said it was “supportive” of Alliance’s leadership team and believed in the company’s future prospects.
In a statement in January it said Alliance needed to implement a range of “operational and strategic initiatives” along with a “period of accelerated investment and selective acquisitions of complementary products, in order to fulfil the growth potential of the business”.
“It has become apparent to DBAY that Alliance needs time away from the public market to allow it to fully deliver these initiatives in a reasonable timeframe,” it said at the time.
Since its listing in 2003, Alliance has shifted from a speciality pharmaceutical business towards consumer healthcare, with around 75% of its revenue now derived from this sector.
Last year, Nick Sedgwick joined the mid-cap company as chief executive. Mr Sedgwick, who has 30 years’ experience working for businesses including consumer goods company Reckitt, US multinational Coty, and food and drink firm Nestlé, has been implementing a turnaround plan, but cited the cost of the plan as a key reason for the takeover.
In September, Alliance reported underlying revenue of £84m for the six months ending June 30, 2024 – up from £81.4m over the same period in 2023. Profit before tax rose from £10.3m to £12.7m from the year before.
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