Thomson Reuters takes 54% stake in Pagero, raises buyout offer to thwart rival bids
Reuters
Published Jan 16, 2024 10:20AM ET
(Reuters) -Thomson Reuters raised its offer to buy Sweden's Pagero by 25% to about $789 million on Monday and said it now controls about 54% of the company, seeking to ward off rival bids for the e-invoicing and tax solutions firm.
Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) said it increased its offer to 50 crowns per Pagero share, valuing the company at 8.1 billion crowns and topping an offer of 45 crowns per share from U.S.-based sales and tax management services company Avalara (NYSE:AVLR) Inc.
Thomson Reuters said it has bought about 53.81% of Pagero's shares and votes from key shareholders, including Summa Equity as well as Pagero CEO and other company executives and employees at the new offer price, which is for all Pagero shareholders.
Last week, Thomson Reuters had offered 40 crowns per share, valuing Pagero at 6.4 billion crowns, beating an offer of 36 crowns per share from U.S. tax technology firm Vertex (NASDAQ:VRTX). Vertex withdrew its offer on Sunday.
The latest offer from Thomson Reuters, which owns the Checkpoint tax and accounting service, is about 39% higher than the Vertex bid, which was made last month.
Pagero, whose services involve digitizing and automating accounts processes, said the independent bid committee of its board of directors recommended Thomson Reuters' new offer.
Thomson Reuters, which also owns the Westlaw legal database and the Reuters news agency, has made multiple deals in the past few years. In May last year, the company's CFO told Reuters News that it will have a $10 billion M&A budget until 2025.
Since then, it has announced acquisitions for Britain-based Imagen, a digital content asset management company, for an undisclosed price as well as for California-based Casetext, which helps legal professionals conduct research, analysis and prepare documents using generative AI, for $650 million. ($1 = 10.2711 Swedish crowns)
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.