This UK Stock Could Be a Takeover Target: Pro
U.K.-based engineering company Invensys is still a solid recommendation to buy, Darren Sinden, senior sales trader at Silverwind Securities, told CNBC.
Shares in Invensys surged 26.6 percent last Wednesday on the back of news of a takeover by rival firm Emerson, but fell 14 percent on Thursday after the company released a statement confirming that discussions with Emerson were “no longer ongoing.” Despite this, investors remain optimistic, with Sinden telling CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange” that a bid is still on the cards.
“It’s speculative, you’ve got to come into this with your eyes open, but Invensys is a company that has been in trouble for many years but is gradually starting to turn itself around,” Sinden said. "It’s now starting to attract the attention of potential purchasers of the stock. Some of the parts valuations suggest the company might be worth as much as £3.90 ($6) versus a current share price of £2.20.”
There is some market speculation that Emerson is not the only interested party, with General Electric and Siemens also talked about as potential acquirers.
“It does have some impediments in terms of someone making a bid, in that it has a large underfunded pension scheme,” Sinden conceded, before adding: “There is a possibility that a predator or even the management themselves could come to an agreement with a specialist insurer and offload the pension liabilities.”
The estimates he gave for resolving the pension scheme were approximately £700 million.
The FTSE 250 engineering group, based in London, creates software used to run London Underground trains.
—By Matthew Clinch, Special to CNBC.com
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Disclosures:
General Electric is a minority shareholder in NBCUniversal, parent of CNBC and CNBC.com. Neither Silverwind Securities nor Darren Sinden have personal or corporate holdings in Invensys.
