Consolidation dominated the tech news agenda, with a US advertising platform moving to take an AIM-listed finance media specialist private in a deal struck at a hefty premium, while a smaller-cap managed services provider tidied up its balance sheet by locking in a better-than-expected price on a disposal already in motion.
Taboola swoops on Dianomi in £19m recommended takeover
Taboola.com has agreed a recommended acquisition of Dianomi (AIM:DNM), the AIM-listed advertising network built around finance, business and lifestyle publishers, in a deal struck through its subsidiary Taboola Europe Dianomi shares, at 26.0p, sit well below the offer terms, underscoring the scale of the premium Taboola is paying to secure control of a niche network it says will sharpen its ability to serve advertisers chasing high-intent, endemic audiences on blue-chip finance and business titles.
Shareholders will receive 64p in cash per share plus a contingent consideration unit worth up to a further 24p, valuing Dianomi at around £19m upfront and as much as £27m if the maximum payout is triggered. The 64p cash element represents a 68% premium to Dianomi's 38.0p closing price on the last practicable date and a 350% premium to its six-month volume-weighted average price of 14.2p. The contingent tranche hinges on a subset of Dianomi's publishers adopting elements of Taboola's standard publisher terms within an agreed window, subject to a minimum threshold and the net revenue those publishers generate, with no guarantee any of that additional money is ever paid. Taboola's Realize platform reaches over 600m daily active users across publishers including NBC News and Yahoo, and it points to Dianomi's specialist reach into finance and business readers as the strategic prize.
The Dianomi board, advised by Panmure Liberum, has unanimously recommended the deal, and Taboola has already banked irrevocable undertakings covering approximately 75.3% of Dianomi shares, including from director Scobie Dickinson Ward and BGF Investments LP. That level of committed support all but removes shareholder-vote risk from the transaction, which will proceed via a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement pending Competition and Markets Authority clearance, with completion targeted by the end of 2026.
The structure, cash now, contingent consideration later, tied to publisher behaviour Taboola itself controls the incentives for, gives the acquirer a way to pay less upfront while dangling the prospect of a fuller price if integration goes to plan. For Dianomi holders, the 75.3% undertaking level effectively locks in the outcome barring a competing bid or regulatory intervention, meaning the real question left is not whether the deal completes but whether the contingent 24p ever materialises.
Redcentric locks in higher price on data centre exit
Redcentric (AIM:RCN) has completed the sale of Redcentric Data Centres to Stellanor Datacenters Group, closing out a disposal first announced on 1 May at an estimated £122.85m. The AIM-listed IT managed services provider had already received £115.4m of that sum on 30 April, with the balance subject to post-completion adjustments.
The final completion statement has now been agreed at £124.90m, £2.05m above the original estimate, and Redcentric has received the balancing payment of £9.46m from Stellanor to close out the transaction in full. Shares in Redcentric, at 97.3655p, edged up 1.42% on the update.
With the data centre business now fully divested, Redcentric has completed its exit from that segment and banked proceeds slightly ahead of guidance, strengthening the platform from which it can execute its planned capital return to shareholders.
