London’s FTSE 250 was up 0.5% at 22,729.04 in afternoon trade on Friday.
Asset management services provider Sanne surged to the top of the index as it said it was in talks with Cinven after the buyout firm made a new 875p-a-share offer for the firm.
Sanne had previously rejected a £1.35bn proposal as too low. Cinven now has until July 9 to make a firm offer.
Broker Liberum said: “We believe that the board were likely put under pressure by the shareholder base to entertain a bid after news of the initial approach from Cinven became public. This is due to the weak share price performance over the last few years and sluggish profit growth, which has likely led to some frustrated shareholders.
“We therefore believe that the board will recommend the bid from Cinven and that the takeover will go through. This provides more evidence of private equity appetite for professional services companies and the willingness to pay attractive premia to the listed valuations.”
Domino’s Pizza lost ground after it emerged that chief financial officer Neil Smith is leaving the group to become finance director of pub and hotels company Fuller, Smith & Turner.
Just Eat Takeaway was on the back foot. On Thursday, the company said it had gained approval for the acquisition of Grubhub and expected to complete the deal on Monday.
FTSE 250 – Risers
Sanne Group (SNN) 853.00p 10.49%
Chrysalis Investments Limited NPV (CHRY) 223.00p 6.19%
Hill & Smith Holdings (HILS) 1,488.00p 4.35%
Trainline (TRN) 265.00p 3.03%
Allianz Technology Trust (ATT) 274.00p 3.01%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 463.40p 2.89%
Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,416.00p 2.68%
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust (USA) 322.00p 2.55%
AO World (AO.) 250.20p 2.46%
Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 489.80p 2.43%
FTSE 250 – Fallers
Just Eat Takeaway.Com N.V. (CDI) (JET) 6,458.00p -2.52%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 86.16p -2.47%
CMC Markets (CMCX) 486.00p -2.31%
Unite Group (UTG) 1,149.50p -2.17%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 130.40p -2.10%
Workspace Group (WKP) 878.50p -2.06%
Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) 383.20p -1.79%
Volution Group (FAN) 401.00p -1.47%
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 1,939.00p -1.47%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 97.60p -1.41%
