Spirent soars on new US takeover bid
DEAL-MAKING action continued on the London market today after Spirent Communications backed a new takeover bid worth over £1.1 billion.
The FTSE 250 equipment testing firm switched its support after America’s Keysight Technologies pitched an approach at a 15% premium to one by Viavi Solutions.
The new 199p a share approach by New York-listed Keysight, which used to be part of Hewlett-Packard and is worth about $28 billion, represents an 86% premium on Spirent’s price prior to takeover interest earlier this month.
Amid tough trading conditions, Spirent chief executive Eric Updyke said directors welcomed the “broader reach and expanded long-term prospects” of ownership under Keysight.
Shares jumped 11% or 19p to 198p, with Spirent the latest firm in US takeover sights after packaging firm DS Smith disclosed an approach by International Paper on Wednesday.
The pick-up in deal-making activity has underpinned a recent upturn in fortunes for the wider London market, with the FTSE 100 index now within 50 points of a record high after today’s rise of 38.61 points to 7970.59.
London’s top flight is up by more than 2.5% so far this year, but that’s far short of Wall Street’s performance after the S&P 500 jumped 10% thanks to an 18% rise for Magnificent Seven stocks including Nvidia and Meta Platforms.
Today’s improvement reflected a strong showing for banking and mining stocks, led by HSBC after a gain of 11.5p to 626.5p. Lloyds Banking Group also continued its positive run with a gain of 0.6p to 52.3p and Glencore lifted 6.25p to 435p.
The fallers board featured M&G, Smith & Nephew and Taylor Wimpey after their shares traded without the right to the latest dividend. Other fallers included Aviva, which dropped a penny to 495.2p after Exane BNP cut its target price to 420p.
The FTSE 250 index improved 17.06 points at 19,827.72.