TalkTalk announced today (17 December) that it has agreed a GBP1.112 billion (USD1.5 billion) takeover offer by Tosca IOM, a newly-incorporated company, formed at the direction of Toscafund and private-equity investor Penta, for the purposes of the acquisition. Under the terms of the deal, TalkTalk noted that shareholders will be entitled to receive GBP0.97 in cash based on the offer price, which represents a 16.4% premium on the closing price of GBP0.833 per share on 7 October 2020 (the last trading day before the offer ended).
Stating the rationale behind the acquisition, Tosca Penta – which owns 29% of the company – said: ‘Tosca Penta believes that TalkTalk has demonstrated resilient performance during 2020 and notes the material decrease in its share price over the last twelve months. Tosca Penta has, therefore, concluded that operating in the public listed markets is not optimal for TalkTalk and that the next stages of its investment, strategy and long term growth can all be best delivered as a private company, without the significant governance, cost, regulatory and financial reporting burdens of a company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Tosca Penta further believes that TalkTalk will benefit from access to different forms of equity and debt financing structures that are not readily available to listed companies.’