Private equity has swooped on another British company in a deal that values the founder’s stake at more than £120million.

Buyout giant Permira has agreed to buy pharmaceuticals services group Ergomed for £703.1million – putting it on course to become the latest firm to leave the London stock market.

The 1350p-a-share offer sent the AIM-listed stock soaring 28.1 per cent, or 296p, to 1348p.

The price tag values the near-18 per cent stake held by Ergomed founder and executive chairman Miroslav Reljanovic at £123million.

Windfall: Ergomed founder Miroslav Reljanovic’s stake in the biotech firm is currently valued at £123m

But while a deal would result in a windfall for the neurologist, it would be seen as yet another blow to the stock market amid a raft of takeovers.

Companies including Morrisons, Ultra Electronics and G4S are among a host of London-listed firms to have been bought in recent years.

Interest in UK firms picked up during Covid as bidders looked to take advantage of depressed price tags and the weak pound in a wave of ‘pandemic plundering’.

This pattern has lingered into the post-pandemic world as a slew of ‘opportunistic’ investors flock towards London’s knock-down prices – fuelling concerns British companies are being snapped up on the cheap.

Ergomed is just the latest UK based healthcare firm to be targeted this year, following veterinary drugmaker Dechra’s £4.5billion deal with EQT in June and Archimed’s takeover of life sciences software firm Instem for £230million last week.

Max Herrmann, an analyst at Stifel Healthcare, said: ‘This is another example of the UK market proving a rich environment for private equity to make acquisitions highlighting it remains significantly undervalued.’

Reljanovic, a Croatian clinical investigator, set up Ergomed in Zagreb in 1997 and oversaw its float on AIM nearly ten years ago at 160p per share – valuing it at £46million. 

The company, which now has 1,400 staff in 100 countries, manages clinical trials for large pharmaceutical companies. London-based Permira focuses on investments in technology, consumer, healthcare and services.

Reljanovic, 64, said: ‘Private ownership by funds advised by Permira, a highly-experienced healthcare investor with a track record of building successful UK-based, global businesses, will allow us to build on the foundations we have created. It also brings with it opportunities to access their operational expertise, global network and capital.’

Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said: ‘Pharma is niche, it’s specialist and it’s expensive. Private equity companies like Permira already have skin in the game and a wealth of knowledge and compatible infrastructure that makes investment a straightforward and lucrative decision.

‘For London markets the current game of private equity bargain hunting is leaving some big holes in a sector that is seen as one of the big hopes for the future of UK plc.’

But Sean Conroy, analyst at Shore Capital, said it was an ‘attractive opportunity to lock in returns’ for Ergomed.

Despite the global slowdown in deals, healthcare has been a bright spot, accounting for 16 per cent of total global mergers and acquisitions in the first seven months of this year, according to data from London Stock Exchange.

The 1350p a share offer was more than 28 per cent higher than the stock’s closing price on Friday.

Shareholders have been offered an alternative to the full cash offer under which they can take 451p a share in cash plus unlisted shares in the company. 

Ergomed’s board said the offer was ‘fair and reasonable’ and recommended shareholders back the deal.

John Dawson, the senior independent director on the Ergomed board, said: ‘The offer represents a highly attractive valuation. The acquisition also fairly reflects the exceptional quality of the Ergomed business, its people and its future prospects.’

Revolution Beauty is considering legal action against a former boss as it reels from an accounting scandal.

Trading in the make-up company’s shares has been suspended since September after auditors refused to sign off its books for the previous financial year.

Co-founder and chief executive Adam Minto quit the company with immediate effect in November after the launch of an investigation into the firm’s finances.

When the audited accounts were published last month, it revealed the company made £23million less than it had previously reported.

The cosmetics retailer has revealed it sent a letter to Minto last month alleging that he ‘breached his fiduciary, statutory, contractual and/or tortious duties to the company’.

Facing the music: Revolution founder Adam Minto (pictured with singer Alexandra Burke) quit the company in November after the launch of a probe into the firm’s finances

Revolution, which listed on the junior Aim market in 2021 with a market value of almost £500million, has said it was looking to ‘recover material sums relating to the exceptional costs the company incurred as a result of the matters alleged’.

The firm has set Minto a deadline of July 7 to respond. It says he has not done so yet.

In a further blow, major shareholder Boohoo has also called for chief executive Bob Holt, chairman Derek Zissman and chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake to be booted out of the firm.

A spokesman for Boohoo said: ‘As Revolution Beauty’s biggest shareholder, Boohoo is grateful to Bob, Derek and Elizabeth for stabilising the business.

‘However, as Revolution Beauty transitions to its next phase, where the focus must switch to growth, Boohoo believes a senior leadership team with the right retail, e-commerce and consumer brands experience is required to deliver shareholder value.’

Boohoo said it would vote against the reappointment of these directors at Revolution’s annual meeting next week.

Norma Hunt, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs founder and former owner Lamar Hunt, has died the franchise announced Sunday. 

The cause of death of the woman dubbed the ‘First Lady of Football’ by many is currently unknown. 

Norma, the mother of the NFL team’s current owner Clark, was the only woman to attend every Super Bowl and watched her beloved Chiefs hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the third time in February. 

She was by her husband’s side throughout his many sporting ventures from the merger of the AFL and the NFL to the formation of Major League Soccer, World Championship Tennis, the North American Soccer League, and their founding investment in the Chicago Bulls.

In a statement from the Hunt family, released by the NFL franchise, Norma was described as kind, generous and unfailingly positive. 

Norma Hunt (center), the wife of Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, has died 

The statement read: ‘Our family is deeply saddened by the passing of our mother, Norma. She was a wonderful mother and an extraordinary woman who will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

Kind, generous and unfailingly positive, mom was one of a kind. Her joy and zeal for life were infectious. She loved caring for others, and she always had an encouraging word. She was a loyal friend, the consummate hostess and she had a rare ability to make everyone she encountered feel valued and at ease.

Mom was steadfastly devoted to her family and fiercely passionate about her family’s sports teams. She was by our father Lamar’s side every step of the way – from the merger of the AFL and the NFL to the formation of Major League Soccer, World Championship Tennis, the North American Soccer League, and their founding investment in the Chicago Bulls. She was the only person we knew who rivaled his love of sports. The two of them found such joy together, whether at home, or in stadium stands around the world.

‘[…] Her quiet yet deep faith sustained her throughout her life, and we take great comfort knowing that she is home with the Lord. She will be greatly missed by our family, the extended Chiefs and FC Dallas families, and by everyone who knew her.’

The NFL also honored the ‘First Lady of Football’ with Commissioner Roger Goodell paying tribute to Norma in a statement released Sunday evening. 

​’The entire NFL family is deeply saddened by the passing of Norma Hunt, who was a significant presence in the NFL for the last seven decades,’ Goodell said.

‘Norma’s role in football was highlighted recently in the documentary appropriately entitled ‘A Lifetime of Sundays.’ Norma’s place in NFL history will forever be remembered by the Chiefs’ organization and the entire league.’

‘We extend our deepest condolences to Clark and the entire Hunt family, and the many people whose lives she impacted during her remarkable life.’

Norma was working as a schoolteacher and hostess for the Dallas Texans when she met Lamar Hunt in 1964, five years after he and other members of ‘The Foolish Club’ founded the AFL.

She and Lamar married later that year and went on to have two children – current Chiefs owner Clark and Daniel.  

Lamar moved the Texans to Kansas City and renamed them the Chiefs and the upstart league eventually merged with the NFL.

Lamar , who died in 2006, also coined the term ‘Super Bowl’ for the league’s championship game and has the AFC Championship trophy named after him. 

More to follow.