Tyro gives takeover suitor four weeks to improve its offer

Payment provider Tyro’s ongoing takeover saga continues with the company asking potential suitor Potentia to improve its offer.

Last October, Westpac revealed it was in early negotiations to take over the company, however it later withdrew from negotiations.

At the time, Tyro also revealed it had had “extensive discussions” with private equity firm Potentia, but said the discussions "had not resulted in a proposal that the board believes fairly values Tyro”.

This included two offers from Potentia, valuing the payments firm at $1.27 per share and $1.60 per share.

In December, the Mike Cannon-Brookes-backed Grok, which has a 12.5 percent stake in Tyro, advised that it would only support offers greater than $1.85 per share.

The failure of takeover talks in December cut Tyro’s share price by nearly 20 percent.

Discussions continued, however, and Tyro has now advised [pdf] that it has offered a further four weeks due diligence “to enable Potentia to develop a significantly improved proposal”.

The prospective buyer would also be able to use the time to “confirm the necessary funding commitments attached to any possible future offer.”