Technology firm, Alphyra, has arranged to meet the chairman of UK payments terminal operator, PayPoint, to discuss an outright purchase of the company.
It is expected that Alphyra will agree to sale negotiations against the backdrop of an independent, expert valuation. The meeting, which is expected to take place today or tomorrow, follows Friday's accusations from the PayPoint board that Alphyra was underpaying in a previously-negotiated deal to buy a 52 per cent stake in the UK company.
Remaining shareholders also claimed that the purchase of the stake from BT Group and a unit of Electricité de France for £41.6 million (€62.2 million) had not been properly conducted because it had not been based on an independent valuation.
It emerged at the weekend that the 52 per cent stake, sold in a process handled by Ernst & Young, had attracted higher offers from parties other than Alphyra. The Irish company argues that it beat higher offers for the 52 per cent holding because its bid was more straightforward and less dependent on conditions.
Under PayPoint's structure, Alphyra must now offer to buy out the rest of the company from shareholders, including RIT Capital Partners and the estate of Lord Weinstock, which own 31 per cent between them.
Alphyra executives are expected to tell Alphyra chairman, Mr David Newlands, who himself has a 3.8 per cent stake in PayPoint, that the earlier purchase was conducted in full accordance with the firm's internal rules.
