Daisy Group UK CEO Makes Preliminary Cash Offer to Buyout Own ISP

In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey there’s a wonderfully unsettling moment where HAL, the on-board AI, sings the song Daisy. In other news Lancashire-based Daisy Group, a telecoms, web and broadband supplier that’s believed to be worth around £400m+, has just become the subject of a cash offer from a group being led by the operators CEO.

The group, which consists of Toscafund Asset Management LLP (“Toscafund”), Penta Capital LLP (“Penta”) and Matthew Riley (Daisy Group CEO), has confirmed that they’re currently at a “preliminary stage” of considering a possible “cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Daisy“.

At present there is “no certainty” that any offer will be made nor of the level of consideration which might be attached to it, although according to Daisy the initial cash offer was pegged at 190p per share and this is currently the subject of on-going discussions with Riley’s consortium.

It’s understood that Toscafund already holds shares worth 28.5% of Daisy, while Riley has a holding of 23%. However, for the purpose of the city’s Takeover Panel code, the three camps aren’t yet considered joint offerors and this is currently the subject of an on-going discussion between all parties involved.

Consortium Statement

Toscafund, Penta and Matthew Riley confirm that they are currently at a preliminary stage of considering a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Daisy. There is no certainty that any offer will be made nor of the level of consideration which might be attached to any such offer.

Toscafund, Penta and Matthew Riley are not yet considered joint offerors for the purposes of the Code but are in discussions with the Takeover Panel and Daisy in respect of this matter. There is no certainty that Toscafund, Penta and Matthew Riley will be considered joint offerors.

Daisy are fairly big players in the market but they’ve recently had a rocky year, not to mention the concerns about investor collusion that cropped up during June 2014 (here). Meanwhile the latest offer appears to come alongside an ambition to take daisy back to being a private company.

It’s this uncertainty, coupled to the ending of one life and the beginning of a new one, that reminds us of that moment in the film 2001, or maybe we just really liked the way HAL sings it. Once heard, cannot be unheard.