TT Electronics says investor DBay has ‘different agenda’ in move against sale

TT Electronics has accused shareholder DBay Advisors of having a “different agenda” in its decision not to back the British manufacturer’s planned £287 million takeover.

On Thursday, Woking-based TT Electronics said it had agreed a takeover approach by Swiss rival Cicor Technologies.

But soon after, its major investor DBay – which has a stake of around 16.5% – revealed it would vote against the 155p-a-share takeover, claiming it was “happy with the progress” TT Electronics is making and therefore would not be backing the sale.

TT Electronics revealed on Friday that DBay had made three takeover approaches for the firm in the past three months.

The most recent was made on October 7 at 130p a share.

“Each of these proposals was unanimously rejected by the TT board,” TT said.

It added: “Against this background, the board of TT believes that DBay may in some respects have a different agenda to other TT shareholders.

“The board of TT remains focused on delivering maximum value for all shareholders and believes the Cicor offer is the best route to achieving this objective.”

Shares in TT were 1% lower in early morning trading on Friday.

Shareholders are expected to vote on the deal in December.

TT Electronics engineers and manufactures products to support sectors from healthcare to aerospace, and has counted customers including BAE Systems and Thales.

The company – which has factories in the UK, North America and Asia – saw the sudden departure of former chief executive Peter France in April as it also warned over the impact of US tariffs on profits, which it said at the time risked impacting its ability to keep operating.

It had also previously warned of difficulty in its US branch, with slumping demand for the components it produces and ongoing production issues at its factories.