Private equity firm GTCR said that it won’t make an offer for U.K. software firm GB Group Plc after previously disclosing it was weighing a cash bid.
GB Group confirmed that early-stage talks with its board had ended after the two companies couldn’t agree on terms in a separate statement.
U.K.-based tech companies, which generally fetch lower valuations than peers in the U.S., are attractive to foreign buyers, with the number of deals nearly doubling in the last five years through 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In the last year, Canada’s Open Text Corp. made an offer for Micro Focus International Plc and France’s Schneider Electric SE bid for the rest of Aveva Group Plc it didn’t own.
Still, GTCR’s decision follows another reversal from a U.S. investor. In early September, private equity firm Thoma Bravo said it did not intend to make a takeover offer for cybersecurity firm Darktrace, after failing to agree on a price for a final offer.
GB Group, which makes fraud-prevention software, is in a sweet-spot in an industry that’s been attractive to buyout firms, analysts from Liberum and Canaccord Genuity said after GTCR disclosed the talks last month. Other private equity bidders may emerge, analysts said at the time.
