In a move that surpasses Vertex’s previous offer of $626 million, Thomson Reuters is making a cash offer for Pagero Group, the Swedish e-invoicing firm.
On Thursday, Thomson Reuters said that on Friday, it will start a public tender offer to buy all of Pagero’s shares. By paying 40 Swedish krona per share, it plans to invest SEK6.4 billion ($626.0 million) in the Gothenburg-based company. Separately, Pagero stated that its board’s independent bid committee had unanimously advised accepting the offer. The committee retracted its endorsement of Vertex’s competing offer, which placed the company’s valuation at approximately SEK5.8 billion. Pagero announced that, barring a superior offer from a competitor, its main shareholders—Summa Equity and CEO Bengt Nilsson, who collectively own over 40% of the company’s outstanding shares and votes—plan to accept the Thomson Reuters offer.
According to Company, the acquisition will expand on the strategic alliance the two firms announced in February of last year, provided it is approved by more than 90% of Pagero shareholders.
Pagero’s e-invoicing compliance capabilities complement and expand Thomson Reuters’ indirect tax offerings, offering enhanced compliance and workflow automation benefits to customers as many countries move towards real-time digital tax regimes,” a statement from Thomson Reuters said. According to Thomson Reuters, the transaction would be financed with cash on hand for the business. Financial and legal advisors, respectively, are Morgan Stanley & Co. and Linklaters.
Last month, American software developer Vertex made a $555 million cash offer for Pagero, aiming to pay SEK36 per share. It declared at the time that the offer price would not be raised.
At SEK36, Pagero’s shares most recently closed. Before Vertex made their offer, their share price was SEK21.
