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Railways Pension Trustee Company Ltd, or Railpen, on Monday said IP Group PLC has rejected its possible takeover offer worth £615.8 million. Railpen said, under the terms of the potential proposal, shareholders in the London-based investor in the science and technology sector would have been entitled to receive a total value of 69.7 pence per share, with the potential to get up to an extra 5p per share through a contingent value right. The possible offer implies a total value of £615.8 million. The possible offer comprised 59p in cash, plus a mechanism to allow shareholders to realise the value of their pro rata share of the firm’s shareholding in Oxford Nanopore Technologies PLC. This holding was valued at around 10.7p per IP Group share, based on the last closing price for an ONT share of 116.5p. Railpen said it has been a ‘supportive and engaged’ shareholder of IP Group since 2019, and currently holds 18.4% of IP Group’s share capital. The suitor said it has spent ‘a number of months’ exploring a possible offer. Railpen said IP Group has had a ‘challenging experience’ as a listed company, including trading at a persistent discount to its published net asset value. It said it started discussions in late 2025 with IP Group ‘about the opportunity to build a scaled, world-class third-party venture and scale-up manager which could be backed by a consortium of pension funds’. ‘Such a consortium would be uniquely positioned to unlock further long-term capital to support the future growth of IP Group and its portfolio companies and support the scale-up of principally UK-led scientific innovation,’ Railpen said. Under the proposed transaction, Railpen said it plans to re-invest its entire current IP Group shareholding. The offer contains a contingent value right of up to 5p per share. Under these terms, IP Group shareholders would be entitled to participate in the value realised from any disposal of the firm’s shareholding in Istesso. If a disposal of Istesso completes within 12 months after completion of the offer for IP Group, and the gross sale proceeds are equal or more than £98 million, the CVR would deliver an additional 3p per share. If the proceeds are more than £200 million, the CVR will deliver a further 2p per share. Railpen said the possible offer would allow shareholders to receive an ‘immediate cash return’ at a 48% premium to the share price on March 25. This was the trading day on which Saba Capital Management LP said it has increased its IP Group shareholding to 12.01%. Shares in IP Group were up 2.2% at 66.10p each on Monday afternoon in London. Railpen noted that the total value of the possible offer could be greater or less than 69.7p per share depending on the share price performance of ONT. Railpen invited IP Group shareholders to get in contact and encourage the board to ‘engage with Railpen to implement the possible offer’. Railpen is required to either make a firm intention to make an offer or that it does not intend to make an offer by July 20. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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