Veritas Capital to buy Bodycote in £1.65bn deal

(Sharecast News) - US private equity firm Veritas Capital said on Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Bodycote in a £1.65bn deal, having fended off competition from CVC. Under the terms of the acquisition, Veritas - through its special purpose vehicle Vulcan Alpha Bidco - will pay 940p per share for Bodycote, which provides heat treatment and specialist metallurgical technologies. This comprises 932.8p in cash and the FY26 interim dividend of 7.2p per share.

The price represents a 44% premium to the closing Bodycote share price on 7 July, which was the last business day before Veritas submitted its initial proposal.

Bodycote chair Daniel Dayan said: "The Bodycote board believes that this offer from Veritas reflects the high quality of Bodycote's business and management, and delivers shareholders excellent value in cash. The Bodycote team has worked extremely hard over many years to build a leading position in our industry, including recent success in delivering on the Optimise, Perform and Grow initiatives; accordingly the board wishes to express its thanks to management and employees on behalf of shareholders.

"It is gratifying to see Veritas' strong support in this announcement for Bodycote's strategy in focusing the group on its most attractive markets for the benefit of all stakeholders. Veritas is an experienced and knowledgeable owner of industrial businesses with the capability to accelerate the delivery of this strategy. The board remains highly confident in Bodycote's prospects and believes that this offer recognises that value today and is therefore recommending it to shareholders."

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