International law firm Bird & Bird is advising London-listed client, De La Rue plc, on its recommended takeover by US private equity firm, Atlas Holdings. The transaction, which was announced on 15 April 2025, is being structured as a scheme of arrangement and values De La Rue at approximately £263 million. De La Rue, which was founded more than 200 years ago and has been listed in London since 1947, prints bills for the Bank of England and other central banks. Bird & Bird has also been advising De La Rue on the separate sale of its Authentication Division, which was announced in October 2024 and is scheduled to close on 1 May 2025. The acquisition by Atlas, which is subject to shareholder approval, court sanction and certain other regulatory approvals is expected to complete in the summer of 2025.
The Bird & Bird team is being led by Simon Allport (partner, Corporate) and includes Fiona McFarlane (partner, Corporate), Saoirse McGrath (associate, Corporate), Sarah Ferguson (partner, Employee Incentives & Benefits), Nick Kosloff (associate, Employee Incentives & Benefits) and Peter Willis (partner, antitrust).
Commenting on the transaction, client relationship partner, Simon Allport said: "We are delighted to be advising De La Rue on this mile-stone transaction which is the culmination of a major repositioning of the business for the benefit of all stakeholders. It has been a pleasure to support the Chairman, Clive Whiley, and his excellent team throughout the course of this transaction and the Authentication sale, over what has been a very challenging 12 months or so for all involved. We look forward to guiding De La Rue to a successful completion of both transactions in the coming months".
Clive Whiley, Chairman of De La Rue commented: “The Bird & Bird team, led by Simon since my appointment as Chairman in May 2023, have greatly contributed to a complex, fast moving corporate recovery situation that required the full bandwidth of Bird & Bird’s capabilities. This involved successfully navigating from the initial corporate activism, in circumstances of financial distress, through to the safe haven reached with Atlas’ £263M recommended offer via the sale of the Authentication division for £300M, all negotiated over a fifteen month period. I am grateful for their support throughout."
