There are 3 things that are certain in life: death, taxes and an increased bid from VIAVI. |
3 quid is perhaps ambitious!The price is suggesting that the fun might NOT be over.Yet again (as with the Viavi bid)you'd expect a bid price at a few pennies discount to the value of the offer to reflect early receipt of monies if you sold in the market.Not the case. |
Looks like there will be a bidding war by all the transactions todsy. Could see 3 qid by the time is taken out. |
what was the cut off date ? |
Keysight Tech is listed on the NYSE and is valued at around $27bn.As such its significantly bigger than Viavi which is valued on Nasdaq at some $2.1bn.The difference in firepower might inhibit Viavi from returning with a higher bid but who knows,a fresh bidder might join the fray.What we do know is that Spirent was absurdly undervalued by an enfeebled UK equity market six months ago.There are a lot of other UK equity constituents who are similarly suffering in what at times seems to be an under-researched and disinterested UK stock exchange which has been manipulated and contrived to prioritise funding UK government debt requirements. |
do you have to hold til purchase if your shares to get the special dividend ? |
lol. I'm a whole 3 pounds in profit! I timed my entry atrociously with this one. I got sucked in with the 5G promise which was eventually a non event. Onwards and upwards. |
Its a bidding war.No reason why Viavi couldn't return with an improved offer which arguably was always a tad opportunistic and undervalued Spirent's true worth. |
Well done all holders. I sold out and missed last 25p. But hey...
hamhamham110 Oct '23 - 07:12 - 2829 of 2875 Edit
0 2 0
I think Keysight will take this out for about 150-200p area over next 12 months if share price stays below 130-150p.
Time will tell.
Good start today. |
Market price is now a small discount to offer. Opposite to last time. Does market think no better offer coming... |
Big buys pre market |
Been on the cards for a while this imo, very happy I didn't sell |
Great news! Will Viavi return with a higher offer? |
Sky news reporting Keysight Technologies are preparing bid of 200p for Spirent tomorrow |
interesting this opened at 184p today above yesterdays close ... another bidder coming ? |
cheers for sharing |
Or the Market has heard that some big IIs will not support the acquisition at the proposed price. So, the bidder may need to increase their offer price to get the IIs onboard. |
Other bidders in the wings? |
What's goin here then? 4p above bid price now.. |
 Spirent takeover deal has a feel of short-termism
The British tech firm is hardly selling up to its bigger US rival Viavi at a stock market high
Sometimes, even a 61.4% premium doesn’t look overly generous. Spirent has just become the latest mid-cap company to join the London market exodus — recommending a 175p-a-share cash takeover from America’s Viavi, worth just over £1bn. You can see why the board, chaired by Sir Bill Thomas, agreed to it. How could they not put that offer to shareholders, even if the premium isn’t quite as good as it looks? The price includes a 2½p special dividend investors were getting anyway. Yet, despite the shares leaping 63% to an above bid 177p, Spirent’s hardly selling up at a stock market high.
Rewind to January last year and the shares were topping 281p. The problem? Last year was one to forget for a group that tests, measures and and analyses kit for telecoms companies, cybersecurity outfits and, lately, the providers of cloud services. Telecoms makes up about 70% of Spirent’s sales, after some rocky trading updates, is last year’s figures: sales down a fifth to $474m, with adjusted operating profits falling 65% to $45.2m. Worse, the board expects a tricky telecoms sector “to last through 2024 and, potentially, into 2025”.
Spirent’s advisers Rothschild and UBS called the deal “fair and reasonable”. And the board’s decision has a logic of sorts. All the same, even after the group’s below consensus half-year figures last August, UBS analysts retained their 244p price target — not cutting to 169p until October. The take-out earnings multiple of 29 times is off 2023’s depressed profits.
Complete article:
US rival eyes Spirent for £1bn takeover
The FTSE 250 technology group has been offered an all-cash deal from Viavi Solutions
Spirent Communications has a takeover target as its board agreed to back a £1bn offer from an American rival. The FTSE 250 technology group said the all-cash offer from Viavi Solutions recognised the underlying value of the business and delivered an attractive outcome for investors. Viavi’s offer at 175p a share represents a 61% premium for the business, and prompted Spirent’s shares to jump by 63.3%, or 68½p, to 177p. Sir Bill Thomas, chairman of Spirent, said the “all-cash offer recognises the underlying value of Spirent”. Viavi is a telecoms business listed on the Nasdaq in New York,and its deal is partly funded with $400m in cash from Silver Lake, a US private equity firm. Spirent said that the combined group could deliver annual cost savings of up to $75m. The announcement said: “[Viavi] anticipates that cost synergies will be achieved through the elimination or reduction of functions and expenses which have historically been related to Spirent’s status as a listed company that will no longer be required due to Spirent ceasing to be a listed company.”
Graham Simpson, at Canaccord Genuity, said the offer was “at the bottom end” of any possible range of bids, and that Viavi was taking advantage of the profit warning issued by Spirent in October. “The offer is not particularly generous and strikes us as opportunistic given Spirent was trading at the 175p offer level 9 months ago, although that was before the October profits warning,” Simpson said.
Complete article: |
I sold out at 176.7 this morning. With last year's dividends that was enough to get me out all square, inclusive of dealing costs, so it seemed a chance not to be missed.
I hope my sale prompts a bidding war, and those who are holding on get a bit more!
Signing off from the board now.
GLA. |
hTTps://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/spirent-buyout-another-nail-in-the-coffin-of-uk-growth |
Bidding war please!! |
750k shares went through in the close 2p above the buyout price..? |
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