UK's IP Group rebuffs top investor Railpen's $810 million takeover proposal

Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Tue 15:16

June 23 (Reuters) - Early-stage science investor IP Group IPO.L said on Tuesday it has rejected a takeover proposal valuing it at around £613.1 million ($810 million) from its largest shareholder Railpen, saying the offer "materially undervalued" the company.
Here are some more details:
London-based Railpen, which manages over £34 billion in assets for railways pension schemes, holds an 18.38% stake in IP Group, according to LSEG data.
Railpen's final proposal includes 59 pence per share in cash, a distribution of IP Group's Oxford Nanopore ONT.L stake, and a contingent value right of up to 5 pence per share tied to a potential sale of IP Group's Istesso holding.
IP Group said it unanimously rejected the proposal, following three earlier approaches from Railpen.
IP Group says, excluding the contingent element, the proposal implies a value of about 69.4 pence per share, representing a 6.7% premium to IP Group's last closing price.
However, it is a discount of 37.2% to IP Group's net asset value of 110.4 pence per share as at December 31, 2025.

($1 = £0.7569)

 (Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
 ((Neeshita.Beura@thomsonreuters.com))