£1bn Printer Falls Like Domino To Japan Bid

A FTSE-250 printing technology company will be the latest British corporate name to fall prey to a foreign rival when it unveils a takeover deal worth close to £1bn.

Sky News has learnt that the board of Domino Printing Sciences (LSE: DNO.L - news) has reached a deal with a‎ major Japanese company that could spark an international bidding war.

Statements could be made to the London and Tokyo stock exchanges as soon as Wednesday, they said.

The identity of the Japanese predator could not be verified on Tuesday, although it is understood not to be any of Canon (Other OTC: CAJFF - news) , Panasonic, Ricoh‎ or Sony (Hanover: SON1.HA - news) - four of the biggest players in Japan's consumer electronics industry.

City sources said that advisers at Citi, the Wall Street bank, were working for the mystery bidder, and added that Domino had also held discussions with a number of US-based competitors in recent months.

One or more of these companies could yet lodge a counter-bid in an effort to gatecrash the agreed deal, they said.

Domino produces printers with secure inks, and serves multinational customers around the world.

Employing 2300 people, the company has operations in the UK, China, Germany, India, Sweden and the US.

If completed by its Japanese suitor, a takeover would be the latest in a string of major corporate deals involving British businesses being acquired by peers from Japan.

Gallaher‎, the tobacco manufacturer, and Aegis, the media-buying agency, are among the UK companies which have succumbed to multibillion pound advances from Japanese rivals in recent times.

A bid for Domino would ‎be one of the largest foreign takeover offers launched since revisions to the Takeover Code were introduced to provide additional safeguards for British manufacturing and research and development.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Domino fell by 1.1% on Tuesday to close at 721p, giving the company a market capitalisation of just over £821m.