Panmure Gordon is reportedly in talks about a roughly £37m takeover of rival City broker finnCap.
According to Sky News, Panmure – which is controlled by former Barclays chief Bob Diamond’s Atlas Merchant Capital – has proposed an all-cash deal worth just over 20p a share.
Sources told Sky that the two companies have been locked in discussions for several weeks.
One source said that an earlier proposal which included a separate deferred payment for Energise, a net zero and sustainability consultancy which is 50%-owned by finnCap, had been rejected by leading investors.
Sky cited insiders as saying that the prospects of a merger between the two mid-cap investment banks are still hanging in the balance.
On Tuesday, finnCap said the deadline for Panmure to either announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away had been extended from 15 November to 13 December. FinnCap first announced in mid October that it had received indicative non-binding proposals from Panmure regarding a possible merger.
