Board launches strategic process to evaluate options, including sale of part or all of company
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Management at legal-technology company Dye & Durham Ltd. are making a bid to take the company private less than one year after its successful public market debut.
The management-led group has made an “expression of interest” to acquire the Vancouver-based company for $50.50 per share, a 23 per cent premium to its Friday closing share price of $40.99, the company announced on Monday. The company said a special committee of independent directors would evaluate its options in the wake of the proposal, including selling either part or all of the company, or a merger.
Dye & Durham shares have already soared more than fivefold since its July 2020 initial public offering, which raised $150 million and was 13 times oversubscribed.
D&D has been on an acquisition spree. In May, it purchased U.K.-based legal data provider Future Climate Info Ltd. for $94 million and U.K.-based property-software company Terrafirma IDC Ltd. for $20 million.
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It also expanded beyond its main markets in Canada and Britain, buying SAI Global’s Australian property division for $89 million in January and Australia-based GlobalX for $166 million in February.
The frenzy of M&A activity has fuelled the company’s rapid growth. D&D reported $68.9 million in revenue in its third quarter ending March 31, jumping 300 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Australian media reports suggested that D&D had also bid for a stake in property transaction settlement company Property Exchange Australia.
While Dye & Durham’s shares have soared since the IPO, they are down 19 per cent since the beginning of the year.
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