Crimson Tide has agreed an all-share takeover offer from Checkit at a lower price following a three-way fight with Ideagen.
Crimson TIde plc rejected two hostile bids from Checkit plc last summer as Ideagen considered a £20.5m move for the Tunbridge Wells firm, but the private equity-backed Nottingham-headquartered RegTech opted against making an offer.
Crimson Tide appointed a new CEO in Phil Meyers (pictured) in May and is behind process management app mpro5, which enables organisations to digitally transform their business and strengthen their workforce by smart mobile working.
Checkit, an augmented workflow and smart sensor automation company for frontline workers, had improved its hostile offer from seven Checkit shares per Crimson Tide share – valuing the business at £12m – to nine.
It has now agreed a merger deal worth just six Checkit shares per Crimson Tide share, valuing the latter at £6.5m.
Should the deal be approved by shareholders, Checkit CEO Kit Kyte will remain in post while Jacqueline Daniell, non-executive chairman of Crimson Tide, will join the Checkit board as a non-executive director. It is expected that Crimson Tide’s executives will be handed management roles within the combined group, while the other non-executive directors will resign.
Checkit reported revenue for the year ended 31st January 2025 of £14m, up from £12m in the prior year, while Crimson Tide reported revenue of £3.14m – a rise of 3.3% – for the six months to 30th June 2024.
Checkit’s share price, which stood at 23p last summer, was 15p before trading on Thursday morning, its lowest level since 2017.
Crimson Tide’s share price, which rose to 270p last summer amid the three-way battle, is currently 87.5p.
Crimson Tide shareholders will hold 20.34% of the total issued share capital of Checkit, should the deal go through.