A private buyout group announced at a news conference on Tuesday a $1.5 billion cash offer for Swedish home security company Securitas Direct AB.
Securitas Direct said in a separate statement its board is evaluating the offer and will announce its decision before the end of the acceptance period of the bid which expires in early January.
The consortium, called ESML Intressenter AB, is led by the Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners, management company SakI AB, holding company Melker Schorling AB and Investment AB Latour.
The group offered $4.10 per Securitas Direct share and said they have plans to delist the company.
The group said the offer represents a premium of 41 percent of the average closing price of Securitas Direct’s shares in the past three months and a 25 percent premium over its closing price on Monday.
“Together with the continuity which the current main owners represent we will accelerate the company’s growth in existing and new markets, which will require substantial capital investments,” Harry Klagsbrun at EQT, which currently has no stake in Securitas Direct, said in a statement.
Latour CEO Jan Svensson said during the press conference Securitas Direct faces a number of substantial challenges which will be more easily managed as a privately held company.
“With the help of EQT, we are creating conditions for implementing long-term and industrially sound initiatives in Securitas Direct,” Svensson said.
Securitas Direct was established in 1988 as a unit within Securitas AB, the world’s second-largest security company. The division was spun off and listed in 2006.
