Copyright dailymail
Software provider Idox has agreed to be taken private by a US investor for £340million. The sale is the latest blow to London’s junior Aim market, amid a stagnating share price performance. Surrey-based Idox will be taken over by investment firm Long Path, already its second-biggest shareholder, in a deal set to complete in the first quarter of next year. The deal values the company at a 28 per cent premium to its closing price on Monday. Shares rose 25.2 per cent after the news yesterday. Long Path expects to inject about £5million into the business but is also set to cut jobs at Idox – which employs 750 workers – by about 5 per cent. It comes a day after it was revealed that UK asset manager Janus Henderson had received a £5.3billion takeover bid from billionaire US investor Nelson Peltz. Smaller stocks listed on Aim – such as Idox – are seen as particularly vulnerable. Recent figures suggested the junior market could shrink by a fifth in value this year as firms worth a total of £12billion have already revealed plans to leave.
