STOCKS WATCH: Will £1bn bid be winning formula for Elementis?

One of Britain’s oldest chemical companies has come under the spotlight amid talk it has attracted a fresh suitor mulling a £1billion takeover bid.

Last year Elementis, founded in 1844 as a tea merchant, received several approaches from US-listed Minerals Technologies Inc. 

Indeed, Minerals Technologies offered as much as 130p a share for Elementis but this was rebuffed by the London-listed firm’s board because it fell ‘significantly short of value that would merit engagement and access to the company’s non-public information’. 

Elementis makes specialist chemicals and personal care products, such as deodorant

Elementis – which makes specialist chemicals and personal care products, such as deodorant – even went so far as to suggest that Minerals Technologies was employing ‘opportunistic bidding tactics’.

Now, the unconfirmed mutter is that Elementis has caught the eye of a different US-based predator.

On Friday Elementis shares closed at 135.3p – 5p above Minerals Technologies’s last offer.

If there really is another suitor, it’s going to have to make a bigger effort than Minerals Technologies.  

Telit Communications 

Has Telit Communications lured another suitor? It has been almost a month since activist private equity firm Dbay Advisors confirmed it was carrying out due diligence on the AIM-listed ‘internet of things’ designer.

But so far there has been no sign of a firm offer from Dbay. When the buyout group talked of a £2.06-a-share offer, Telit’s shareholders were up in arms given the stock was already trading at that level.

Telit’s past rivals include Switzerland’s U-blox, US-listed Lantronix and Canada’s Sierra Wireless. Word is a US-listed firm advised by Barclays has also been running a slide rule over Telit.

After a tortuous few years, investors in the firm are hoping for a competitive bid battle, but whether it gets one remains to be seen.

Supply@Me 

Supply chain financing has been given a bad name thanks to the collapse of Greensill Capital but there’s one firm hoping to show it can be a success. That’s Supply@Me, a UK-based firm that listed last year in London.

The firm ‘monetises inventory’, from unsold couture to washing machines. Insiders say lockdown has left many firms with stock needing to be bought or sold. This could help Supply@Me, if the firm can win the business.