Here’s a theme that crops up from time to time when the UK gets silly cheap. And the level of bid interest in UK names, small- and mid-cap, has certainly burgeoned of late. Just in the BnB fund over the past few weeks , we’ve had Niox (LON:NIOX), Advanced Medical Solutions (LON:AMS), GlobalData (LON:DATA), and now some possible interest in the fund’s largest UK holding Alpha International (LON:ALPH). Even when the bids never fully materialise, it’s profitable for the fund, since policy is to sell at least half on the first spike. Now I’m wondering who’s next, and where to invest recent profits? Within the fund, I see significant opportunity of a bid on several, as fund managers are so keen for liquidity that a cheeky offer could push shareholders to capitulate, and some great quality is on sale:
Renishaw (LON:RSW) - superb precision engineering at a historic low
Oxford Instruments (LON:OXIG) - performing exceptionally well, yet at a valuation low
Beeks Financial Cloud (LON:BKS) - must tempt any cloud provider
Activeops (LON:AOM) - tech growth at under 2x sales
Craneware (LON:CRW) - obvious target for Oracle and other health tech or for the many big insurers
Eleco (LON:ELCO) - quality asset at half the valuation of possible consolidator Nemetschek
GB (LON:GBG) - accident-prone but well positioned and not expensive
hVIVO (LON:HVO) - will be bought by a US CRO
Intercede (LON:IGP) - prize asset for CyberArk, Okta, or even Microsoft
MPAC (LON:MPAC) - just too cheap with many consolidators in its niche
Qinetiq (LON:QQ.) - defence giants will pounce
Tracsis (LON:TRCS) - could go to anyone from Alstom to a tech consolidator
What quality names do you see as vulnerable to a bid?
