De La Rue, the Bank of England’s currency printer, is closing in on the £300m sale of one of its two core businesses – a move that will pave the way for a takeover of its remaining operations.
Sky News has learnt that De La Rue is expected to announce to the London Stock Exchange as soon as Monday morning that it has received agreement on a binding offer for its authentication arm from Crane NXT, the US-listed group.
Banking sources said the deal – first announced last October – was now expected to be completed at the end of this month.
The sale of the authentication division, which works with government clients by providing traceability software to help detect fraud, will leave De La Rue locked in talks with potential buyers of its market-leading currency printing business.
De La Rue is running a formal sale process under Takeover Panel rules, with a string of parties said to have expressed an interest in it since the period began late last year.
Among its potential suitors has been Edi Truell, the prominent City financier and pensions entrepreneur.
De La Rue’s directors, led by chairman Clive Whiley, have been exploring several alternatives to maximise value for long-suffering shareholders, including a standalone sale of the currency-printing business or other proposals to acquire the entire company.
Its balance sheet has been under strain for years.
In 2023, De La Rue was forced to seek breathing space from its pension trustees by deferring tens of millions of pounds of payments into its retirement pot.
Soon after that, the company parachuted in Mr Whiley, a seasoned corporate troubleshooter, as chairman, with a mandate to repair its battered finances.
Since then, its stock has recovered strongly and is up 31% over the last year.
Its banknote printing arm is one of the world’s market leaders in the sector, and has contracts with leading central banks around the world.
In recent years, the British company has been beset by a series of corporate mishaps, including a string of profit warnings, a public row with its auditor and challenges in its operations in countries including India and Kenya.
De La Rue traces its roots back to 1813, when Thomas De La Rue established a printing business.
Eight years later, he began producing straw hats and then moved into printing stationery, according to an official history of the company.
Its first paper money was produced for the government of Mauritius in 1860, and in 1914 it began printing 10-shilling notes for the UK government on the outbreak of the First World War.
A De La Rue spokesman declined to comment on Sunday evening.
