An American predator is close to sealing a £300m swoop on a division of De La Rue, the Bank of England’s banknote printer, in a move that will herald a break-up of the historic company.
Sky News can exclusively reveal that Crane NXT, a New York-listed industrial technology group, was on Monday night close to finalising a takeover of De La Rue’s authentication arm.
If confirmed, the purchase will leave the London-listed company as a pure-play currency printer which counts more than 40 central banks around the world among its clients.
Sources said that the value of the deal would likely be regarded as a positive outcome for De La Rue, whose balance sheet has been under strain for years.
One added that the transaction with Crane NXT would eliminate De La Rue’s debt, and include an unspecified sum to be injected into the company’s pension scheme.
Last year, De La Rue was forced to seek breathing space from its pension trustees by deferring tens of millions of pounds of payments into its retirement pot.
Shortly after that, the company parachuted in Clive Whiley, a seasoned corporate troubleshooter, as chairman, with a mandate to repair its battered finances.
De La Rue has been exploring a break-up for months, with Sky News revealing in June that Crane NXT was working with Goldman Sachs on a possible offer for its authentication arm.
As part of the process, it has also solicited offers for the whole company, although it was unclear on Monday night whether any such proposals had materialised.
The authentication business principally works with government clients, providing traceability software to help detect fraud.
One source said that under the revised UK listing rules, De La Rue would not be required to seek shareholder approval for the deal.
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The move will fuel speculation that a sale of its currency division is inevitable in the coming months.
Bankers at Deutsche Numis are understood to be advising the board of De La Rue on the authentication sale.
De La Rue and Crane NXT have both been contacted for comment.
In recent years, the British company has been beset by a series of corporate mishaps, including a string of profit warnings, a public row with its auditor and challenges in its operations in countries including India and Kenya.
De La Rue traces its roots back to 1813, when Thomas De La Rue established a printing business.
Eight years later, he began producing straw hats and then moved into printing stationery, according to an official history of the company.
Its first paper money was produced for the government of Mauritius in 1860, and in 1914 it began printing 10-shilling notes for the UK government on the outbreak of the First World War.
On Monday, shares in De La Rue closed at 94p, giving the company a market capitalisation of about £185m.
Its stock is up by more than half over the last 12 months.