June 25 (Reuters) – U.S.-based adhesives maker H.B. Fuller will buy Advanced Medical Solutions Group in a cash deal that values the British medical supplier at about £715 million ($942.1 million) including debt, the companies said on Thursday.
The British company’s shares rose as much as 16.5% to 279.5 pence, their highest level since February 2023.
Here are some details:
• H.B. Fuller to pay AMS shareholders 285 pence per share, a 35% premium to its May 20 closing price, the day before the offer period began.
• Deal expected to close by end of 2026.
• H.B. Fuller expects about $55 million in annual run-rate synergies by 2031 from deal.
• Deal marks the latest overseas takeover of a London-listed company amid relatively low UK valuations and ends a long stretch of private equity interest in AMS.
• “As part of the combined larger medical adhesives platform, AMS and H.B. Fuller will benefit from enhanced commercial, manufacturing and distribution capabilities,” Grahame Cook, chair of AMS, said.
• AMS board unanimously recommended the deal to its shareholders.
• Ancora, an activist investor in H.B. Fuller, on Thursday criticised the U.S. firm’s board for ignoring shareholder concerns, saying it will hold the board accountable for its “value destruction driven by entrenchment”.
• Ancora in May had urged the Minnesota-based company to abandon its “irresponsible” pursuit of AMS and conduct a strategic review instead.($1 = 0.7590 pounds)
(Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Harikrishnan Nair and Susan Fenton)
