IPF in talks with BasePoint Capital over potential £490m takeover

(Sharecast News) - International Personal Finance said on Wednesday that it is in advanced talks with US specialty finance firm BasePoint Capital about a possible £490m takeover. Under the terms of the possible offer, IPF shareholders would receive 220p per share in cash and be entitled to retain the interim dividend of 3.8p per share, giving a total value of 223.8p per share.

This is a 24.9% premium to the closing share price on Tuesday.

"The board is confident in its strategy and in the company's standalone future, recognising the strong performance to date outlined in the 2025 half year results released today," said IPF.

However, the group said it has "carefully considered" the possible offer with its advisers and concluded it's at a value the board would be minded to recommend unanimously to shareholders, should a firm intention to make an offer be made.

"Accordingly, the board is in advanced discussions with BasePoint in relation to these terms and other transaction documentation, following completion of due diligence satisfactory to BasePoint," it said.

News of the takeover talks came as IPF released its results for the six months to the end of June, which showed that pre-tax profit rose 5.5% from the same period a year earlier to £49.9m, coming in ahead of company expectations.

IPF said this was driven "by excellent credit quality and good growth momentum across all our divisions".

Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood said: "While the shares have performed well of late and are currently trading slightly above our last published standalone fair value of 175p, the takeover premium does seem a little disappointing to us.

"The bid probably also explains why the group has not yet commenced the £15m share buyback that was proposed at the year end."

At 0940 BST, the shares were up 19% at 213p.