After weeks of back-and-forth, Spectris (LSE: SXS) has found its suitor.
The UK-based maker of precision instruments and industrial software has agreed to a £4.1 billion takeover by US private equity giant KKR, elbowing out a previous offer from Advent International in the process.
Spectris shares climbed 4.6% to 4,006.00p on Wednesday, marking a 42% gain over the past year.
KKR’s cash offer of £40 per share, including a 20p dividend, trumps Advent’s earlier bid of £37.63 and delivers a hefty 96% premium to Spectris’ share price before all the M&A chatter kicked off in early June. With that kind of uplift on the table, the Spectris board did not hesitate. It has swiftly dumped Advent’s proposal and is backing KKR’s revised terms unanimously.
For Spectris, which has spent the past few years streamlining into a leaner, more focused precision measurement business, the deal looks like a tidy outcome. The company booked £1.2 billion in sales last year, with adjusted operating profit of £203 million, serving industries as varied as pharma, aerospace, and semiconductors. It’s not hard to see why it attracted competing US bidders, there’s steady cashflow, niche tech appeal, and plenty of room to lever up.
Spectris chairman Mark Williamson played the usual hits about shareholder value and strategic vision, noting KKR’s offer brings “immediate cash value” while supporting the group’s long-term direction. Of course, the board’s newfound enthusiasm for KKR might also have something to do with that extra £2.37 a share.
Once the paperwork is done and regulators sign off (UK, EU, US, and China all need to weigh in), Spectris will disappear from the London Stock Exchange and go private under KKR’s Project Aurora Bidco. Completion is expected by early 2026.
Another British tech-flavoured industrial quietly slips into private equity’s growing UK trophy cabinet.