Banknote printer De La Rue near £300m sale of authentication arm

De La Rue, the Financial institution of England’s forex printer, is closing in on the £300m sale of considered one of its two core companies – a transfer that may pave the best way for a takeover of its remaining operations.

Sky Information has learnt that De La Rue is anticipated to announce to the London Inventory Alternate as quickly as Monday morning that it has acquired settlement on a binding supply for its authentication arm from Crane NXT, the US-listed group.

Banking sources mentioned the deal – first introduced final October – was now anticipated to be accomplished on the finish of this month.

The sale of the authentication division, which works with authorities purchasers by offering traceability software program to assist detect fraud, will go away De La Rue locked in talks with potential consumers of its market-leading forex printing enterprise.

Amongst its potential suitors has been Edi Truell, the distinguished Metropolis financier and pensions entrepreneur.

De La Rue’s administrators, led by chairman Clive Whiley, have been exploring a number of alternate options to maximise worth for long-suffering shareholders, together with a standalone sale of the currency-printing enterprise or different proposals to amass your complete firm.

Its steadiness sheet has been underneath pressure for years.

In 2023, De La Rue was compelled to hunt respiration area from its pension trustees by deferring tens of thousands and thousands of kilos of funds into its retirement pot.

Quickly after that, the corporate parachuted in Mr Whiley, a seasoned company troubleshooter, as chairman, with a mandate to restore its battered funds.

Since then, its inventory has recovered strongly and is up 31% during the last yr.

Its banknote printing arm is without doubt one of the world’s market leaders within the sector, and has contracts with main central banks all over the world.

In recent times, the British firm has been beset by a sequence of company mishaps, together with a string of revenue warnings, a public row with its auditor and challenges in its operations in international locations together with India and Kenya.

De La Rue traces its roots again to 1813, when Thomas De La Rue established a printing enterprise.

Eight years later, he started producing straw hats after which moved into printing stationery, in accordance with an official historical past of the corporate.

Its first paper cash was produced for the federal government of Mauritius in 1860, and in 1914 it started printing 10-shilling notes for the UK authorities on the outbreak of the First World Battle.

A De La Rue spokesman declined to touch upon Sunday night.