UK’s Hargreaves Lansdown set to agree $6.9 billion takeover by CVC-led consortium

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(Reuters) -Hargreaves Lansdown is set to agree a 5.41 billion pounds ($6.87 billion) takeover by a CVC-led consortium if the group of investors table a formal offer at that price, the British company said on Tuesday.

The London-listed investment platform has agreed to extend the deadline for the consortium to make a firm offer by a month, saying it will engage with the group and provide confirmatory due diligence access.

The revised proposal is at a price of 1,140 pence per Hargreaves Lansdown share in cash, including a 30 pence final dividend for fiscal 2024.

The British investment platform had previously rejected a 4.67 billion pounds, or 985 pence a share, buyout proposal by the consortium in May, saying it “substantially” undervalued its prospects.

“The Board has confirmed to the Consortium that the revised possible cash offer is at a value that the Board would be willing to recommend unanimously to Hargreaves Lansdown shareholders,” it said in a statement,

The consortium has until July 19 to make a firm offer for Hargreaves or walk away.

Hargreaves shares were up 4.5% at 1,122 pence by 1310 GMT.

Reuters exclusively reported in May that Peter Hargreaves, the biggest shareholder in Hargreaves Lansdown, was open to taking the company private at a higher price.

($1 = 0.7892 pounds)

(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu and Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Devika Syamnath and Christina Fincher)