Alliance Pharma to accept £349.7m buyout offer from biggest investor

DBAY Advisors, an investment firm based in the Isle of Man, already holds a 27.9 per cent stake in the pharma company.

Alliance Pharma, which sells over-the-counter drugs in more than 100 countries, is listed on London’s Aim index.

DBAY Advisors wrote on Friday that it was “supportive” of Alliance Pharma’s leadership team, but that it needs to “accelerate investment”.

“It has become apparent to DBAY that Alliance needs time away from the public market to allow it to fully deliver these initiatives in a reasonable timeframe.”

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “The ranks of the AIM market will be further thinned as Alliance Pharma looks set to succumb to a bid from its largest investor.

“Alliance, which supplies over-the-counter drugs and has an international footprint, has had an up and down time as a public company and shareholders may welcome the opportunity to exit at a premium – even if the offer is some way below the shares’ 2022 peak.

“However, the departure of a profitable and well-established business is hardly good news for London’s challenged junior market.”

Mr Mould said the FTSE 100 was broadly unchanged in early trading with UK stocks treading water.

He said the US market had been closed on Thursday for former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral so the only direction for UK shares came from Asia which saw mixed trading.

However, Mr Mould said better than expected quarterly revenue from TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) implies the AI (artificial intelligence) boom is still running at top speed.

He added: “Companies across every sector imaginable have spent the past year or two looking at how AI can make their lives easier and orders for technology to support and facilitate AI-powered systems and services have been coming thick and fast.”