IFG to update market on takeover

FINANCIAL services group IFG is set to update the market on the potential takeover battle for the business next week.

The Dublin-headquartered pensions and mortgage specialist has been on the radar of potential buyers since April and announced at its June annual general meeting that it had opened its books for due diligence purposes to two interested parties. It had been anticipated that any takeover of IFG would be largely concluded by early August, given that due diligence — by both the London-based private equity house Bregal Capital and IFG’s major shareholder, Fiordland Investments — was due to begin 10 days after the June 30 AGM and last for a maximum of six weeks, after which time both parties were obliged to either table firm offers for the group or walk away from the process.

The Bloomberg news agency reported yesterday that IFG had approached its two potential bidders to make non-binding offers for the business before the publication of its interim results, but did not state the source of this report.

Those first-half figures from IFG are due next Wednesday and represent the first occasion of the group issuing earnings since switching its reporting currency from euro to sterling.

The group is currently in a closed period ahead of that results announcement, but still gave a brief update on the situation yesterday, stating: “We are still in a process and will be communicating with the market next week, at our interim results announcement.”

It is understood that the process has been progressing well since IFG’s AGM: one source suggested that the due diligence programmes had been commencing “smoothly”.

The most recent information from IFG — whose share price was down by over 2.4%, or 4c, yesterday, at €1.60 — came last week. Though immaterial to the future ownership of the group as a whole, it announced a link-up between IFG Ireland’s corporate pensions division and Cork-based wealth management specialist Quintas, in a joint venture aimed at forging ahead as the leading pensions provider in Munster.

Meanwhile, IFG’s management is likely to stay unchanged after any takeover.

Chief executive Mark Bourke said at the AGM that the board remains committed to expanding the business. It has previously expressed interest in taking part in the anticipated consolidation within the specialist pensions market in the UK, which it entered last year.