Plucked Daisy could be delisted as soon as January

AIM-listed comms VAR gearing up to go private after £494m takeover bid declared unconditional

Daisy Group is set to be delisted as soon as late January after its £494m takeover was this morning declared unconditional.

Bidco, a group of investors led by Daisy founder Matthew Riley (pictured), has now acquired - or at least received valid acceptances for - over 97 per cent of Daisy’s issued share capital, the comms VAR announced this morning.

The consortium’s £494m cash offer was originally accepted by Daisy on 20 October, two months after Riley first mooted making a bid, and its offer document was published on 17 November.

“Bidco announces that all the conditions of the Offer have now been either satisfied or waived,” the announcement stated.

“Accordingly, Bidco is pleased to announce that the Offer is declared unconditional in all respects.”

This means Bidco can press ahead with applying to the London Stock Exchange for the cancellation of Daisy’s shares on AIM, an event it expects to take place “no earlier than 20 January 2015”.

Riley’s success in taking Daisy private comes after Dell founder Michael Dell claimed over 10 firms had sought his advice on moving from public to private ownership since he led a buyout of the vendor last year.

Riley’s Bidco stablemates are Toscafund, which has been an investor in Daisy for five years and Penta, a private equity firm focusing primarily on the midmarket and telecoms space.

Riley previously claimed the deal would position the £349m-turnover, 1,500-employee firm for the next stage of its growth.