27th Mar 2026 20:44
(Alliance News) - CAB Payments Holdings PLC on Friday urged Helios Investment Partners LLP to consider making a higher offer after its large shareholder declined to provide an irrevocable undertaking for a rival bid.
Helios, which owns 45% of London-based payment processing firm CAB Payments, said it considered its offer the "only firm and deliverable" bid available to CAB Payments shareholders after rejecting the call from StoneX Group Inc.
CAB Payments has so far rejected bid proposals from both Helios and StoneX.
The potential offer by StoneX came at 95 pence per share in cash, higher than the USD1.15 per share, or about 86p, offer from a consortium led by the London-based private equity firm Helios.
At the time of announcing its potential bid, New York-based financial services firm StoneX said making a firm offer depends on the "unanimous and unconditional recommendation" by the board of CAB Payments, receipt of hard irrevocable undertakings from each CAB Payments director, the Helios Consortium and Eurocomm Holding Ltd.
On Friday, Helios declined a request to provide an irrevocable undertaking.
In addition, Helios said it has asked CAB Payments to provide requisite information to allow necessary filings but said so far this has been refused.
"If the CAB board decides not to provide the requisite information this will not prevent the Helios offer being put to shareholders, it will only prolong and delay the process," Helios said.
Responding, CAB Payments hit back at Helios, noting it has launched an "unsolicited" offer at an "unrecommendable" value and using a structure that "inevitably results in a longer timeline than might otherwise be the case."
"In the absence of a recommendable offer, the company will continue to focus on creating shareholder value through a complete focus on the execution of its strategy," it added.
CAB Payments said it has engaged extensively with a significant number of its larger shareholders and remains of the view that the Helios offer is "highly opportunistic and fundamentally undervalues" the company and its future prospects.
CAB Payments said it continues to believe that there is "clear value upside" for shareholders above the Helios offer, as demonstrated by the higher possible offer from StoneX and reflected in the company's standalone plans.
Shares in CAB Payments closed down 4.0% at 83.20 pence each in London on Friday.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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