Bidco offers cash deal for Gooch & Housego at £345.6 million equity value

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Bidco cash offer for Gooch & Housego

Highlights

Bidco offers to acquire Gooch & Housego via a court-sanctioned scheme, valuing its equity at £345.6 million and enterprise value at £400.5 million.
Shareholders receive 1,230.0 pence cash plus a 4.9 pence interim dividend per share, totaling 1,234.9 pence, with record date 19 June 2026.
Deal terms imply a 41.3% premium to Gooch & Housego's 15 July closing price of 874.0 pence and a 25.9x adjusted operating profit multiple for FY ended 31 March 2026.

Offer terms and transaction structure

As reported by London Stock Exchange, citing London Stock Exchange Regulatory News Service, Bidco and Gooch & Housego say the acquisition is intended to proceed through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the 2006 Act, although Bidco retains the option to switch to an offer structure with the required consents.

For each Gooch & Housego share, qualifying shareholders are set to receive 1,230.0 pence in cash plus the 4.9 pence interim dividend declared on 2 June 2026, taking the total value to 1,234.9 pence a share. Shareholders on the register at the close of business on 19 June 2026 qualify to receive and retain that interim dividend without any reduction to the cash consideration.

The cash offer values Gooch & Housego's issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital at about £345.6 million on a fully diluted basis. It also implies an enterprise value of £400.5 million and a valuation multiple of about 25.9 times adjusted operating profit for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026.

Premiums and shareholder implications

The cash consideration represents a premium of about 40.7% to Gooch & Housego's closing price of 874.0 pence on 15 July 2026, 34.0% to its one-month volume-weighted average price of 918.0 pence, and 45.7% to its six-month volume-weighted average price of 844.1 pence.

Including the interim dividend, the total value implies premiums of about 41.3% to the 15 July closing price, 34.5% to the one-month average, and 46.3% to the six-month average. Bidco also says it reserves the right to reduce the cash consideration if Gooch & Housego declares, makes or pays any further dividend, distribution or return of capital before the acquisition becomes effective, other than the interim dividend already specified.

Foreign takeovers of London-listed companies have been accelerating as overseas buyers move in on UK firms with relatively low valuations and global operations. We previously reported that Swiss engineering group ABB agreed to buy Rotork for £4.1bn, offering 506p per share in cash to strengthen its automation business and highlighting the broader uptick in cross-border bids for UK-listed names.

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