SHARES in power protection firm Chloride jumped more than 40% today after a US industrial giant reignited its takeover interest in the company.
The move by Emerson Electric values Chloride at £723 million and comes less than two years after it failed with a previous takeover approach.
Emerson, based in St Louis, Missouri, sent its offer proposal to Chloride on Friday and went public with its interest after Chloride failed to respond by a deadline of last night.
Chloride, which provides blue-chip companies with systems to protect against power outages, was a well known battery manufacturer but has been a secure power solutions firm since 2000. It employs 2,300 people in 15 countries, of which 374 are located in the UK.
Emerson said the offer price of 275p a share represented a premium of 34% on the price of Chloride’s shares on Thursday night. The stock surged 90.6p to 299.6p today as investors looked for a bigger price from Emerson.
David Farr, the US firm’s chief executive, said: "Chloride is a good business with a solid management team. But in a market where scale is becoming increasingly important, we believe that Chloride will be better able to compete long-term with the benefit of the strength and resources of Emerson."
