By Elliot Gulliver-Needham
Software company Smartspace has received a £28.4m buyout offer (90p a share) from Sign In Solutions, the firm said today.
Smartspace specialises in visitor and employee management software for offices, with headquarters in London, Texas and New Zealand.
The AIM-listed company, which currently has a market cap of £20.9m, has seen previous declarations of interest from companies looking to take it private.
Last year, Australian venue management software supplier Skedda attempted a takeover of the company for 82p a share, but eventually abandoned its plans.
Smartspace’s management said that while it was confident in its future prospects as an independently public-traded company, it believed the cash offer would provide shareholders with “an immediate realisation of this future value potential in cash at an attractive premium to the undisturbed share price”.
The shareholders themselves hold 1.35 per cent of share capital and have committed to vote for the deal. In total, 20.6 per cent of shareholders have already said they will vote for the deal, with another 25.5 per cent submitting non-binding letters of support.
Guy van Zwanenberg, chairman of SmartSpace, said its board was proud of the firm’s achievements and evolutions over the last five years, “which in no small part is due to the hard work and diligence of the staff”.
He added: “We feel that the time is opportune for the shareholders and employees of Smartspace to take advantage of the opportunities being offered with SIS.”
