25 May 2012

OpSec agrees £28m bid

27/04/2011 Miles Nolan

Anti-counterfeiting firm OpSec (OSG) has agreed to a £28 million cash offer, just one day after being forced to admit it was in bid discussions.

The 50p a share deal is being made by Orca, with the backing of buyout major Investcorp Technology Partners. Its parent Investcorp Bank has $12 billion under management and has completed transactions worth a total of $44 billion.

OpSec supplies technologies into three core sectors: banknote and high security documents, identity solutions and brand protection. Several governments also use its products to guard against counterfeiting of currency, tax stamps, passports and drivers' licenses.

Last year Orca took a 29.8 per cent stake in OpSec so has a useful springboard to launch the offer. The price represents a 80.2 per cent premium to the closing price last night, and is well above the price at which the AIM listed counter has traded over the last couple of years.

OpSec has been operating in a consolidating sector and has acquired rivals Light Impressions and P4M Partners over recent years. The global slowdown has affected its operations forcing management to cut costs, rather than tap equity markets to make further acquisitions. Given the level of the offer, a rival bid looks unlikely. Accept.

Tags: Agreed bid, AIM market, Cash offer, Investcorp

Sector: Support Services

Companies: OpSec Security

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