De La Rue's £300m authentication unit sale expected to close in May

(Sharecast News) - Banknote printing business De La Rue said on Monday that the £300.0m sale of its authentication business was now expected to close at the beginning of May. De La Rue, which agreed to the sale of the unit back in October, stated that all conditions to the exercise of options granted under the put and call agreement for the sale of the division have now been either satisfied or waived.

As a result, De La Rue and Crane NXT entered into a share purchase agreement. On completion of the share purchase agreement, the full sale amount will become payable in cash, with £15.0m being held in escrow for up to 18 months post-completion and £30.0m being paid to the trustee of the group's defined benefit pension scheme by way of an accelerated deficit repair contribution.

De La Rue added that a portion of the proceeds will also be applied to repay its revolving credit facility in full.

As of 0835 BST, De La Rue shares were up 2.46% at 110.66p.











Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com