Today (7 April) the security printing PLC announced that all conditions related to “put and call” agreements had been satisfied or waived.

As a result De La Rue and US-headquartered purchaser Crane NXT have now entered into the share purchase agreement, per the £300m deal originally announced last October.

Regarding the total sale price, £15m will be held in escrow for up to 18 months post-completion, and £30m will be paid to the trustees of the De La Rue defined benefit pension scheme “by way of an accelerated deficit repair contribution”.

De La Rue intends to use the remaining proceeds to repay its £235m revolving credit facility in full and reduce leverage to “a net cash position”.

The sale of Authentication is expected to complete on 1 May.

The division has specialist technology used for brand protection, identity, and government tax stamps for products such as tobacco.

De La Rue also updated on the possible sale of the rest of the business, and said: “The company continues to be in discussions that may or may not result in possible cash offers for the company or possible cash offers from various potential counterparties in relation to the group's Currency division.”

De La Rue had sales of £310m and employed 1,600 at the March 2024 year end.

The Authentication business had sales of just under £103m at that time, and employed around 450 staff. The unit made an adjusted operating profit of £14.6m and had gross assets of £83.3m.