London (awp/afp) – Canadian asset manager Brookfield Asset Management will buy British home repair company HomeServe for more than 4 billion pounds (4.84 billion Swiss francs), the two groups announced on Thursday in a press release.
The boards of directors of the two companies “have reached an agreement on the terms of an offer (…) to acquire the entire capital” of HomeServe, for 1,200 pence per share or “approximately 4.077 billion pounds”, states the press release.
HomeServe, which has 9,000 employees and a presence in 10 countries including the United Kingdom but also France, Spain, the United States and Japan, benefited during the pandemic from the tendency of consumers to devote more time and money for housework.
The company says it wants to become “the largest and most trusted provider of home repairs and improvements in the world,” according to the release, which notes that HomeServe “delivered strong revenue and profit growth (…) over many years” and has paid over £800m in dividends to its shareholders since 2004.
Investors welcomed the announcement and the title of HomeServe soared 10.07% to 1159 pence on the London Stock Exchange around 12:30 GMT.
In its last half-year results published at the end of 2021, the group had seen its net profit group share doubled to 13.2 million pounds.
HomeServe recently announced that it had “made very good progress” for the full year, which was completed in late March but results have yet to be announced.
The operation should be effective in the last quarter of 2022, but must still be approved by HomeServe shareholders and validated by various authorities in the countries in which the group is present.
afp/buc