Italy's Wiit confirms talks for takeover of UK's Redcentric

Wiit SpA

28/05/2024 10:00

MILAN, May 28 (Reuters) - Italian cloud computing and
cybersecurity service provider Wiit  WIIT.MI  confirmed on
Tuesday it was in talks with British IT services group
Redcentric  RCN.L  about making a takeover offer.
    The British group, whose clients include broadcaster Channel
4, Heathrow Airport and the National Health Service, said last
week that it was in the early stages of talks over a sale of the
company to the Milan-listed Wiit.
    Shares in Redcentric rose more than 5% on Tuesday as trading
resumed after a public holiday, giving it a market
capitalisation of around 250 million pounds ($320 million),
according to LSEG data.
    Reuters reported last week that Redcentric was working with 
investment bank Lazard to sound out buyers for the business.
    Wiit said it was evaluating its "possible interest in making
an offer for the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital
of Redcentric," as part of the regular dialogue it maintains
with various operators in the industry.
    "There can be no certainty that any firm offer for
Redcentric will be made; if a firm offer were to be made, it
would likely be in cash," the Italian company added in a
statement.
    This is not the first time Redcentric has explored a formal
sale process. 
    It announced a sale process led by Stifel Financial Corp in
2020, although discussions with buyers did not materialise into
any formal offers.
    Redcentric provides public and private organisations with
managed IT services including cybersecurity, communication and
cloud computing. It was founded in 1997 and listed on the AIM
market in 2013.
($1 = 0.7836 pounds)

 (Reporting by Matteo Negri in Rome
Editing by Keith Weir)
 ((Matteo.Negri@thomsonreuters.com;))