Leeds-based unsecured consumer credit provider, International Personal Finance (IPF), has received a potential cash offer of about £490m for its business.
It is in advanced discussions with BasePoint Capital, a provider of asset-based financing in the US to specialty finance companies, regarding a possible cash offer by a wholly-owned subsidiary of BP PMKN LLC – an entity in the BasePoint group – to acquire IPF.
Under the terms of the possible offer, IPF shareholders would receive cash consideration of 220 pence per IPF share and would be entitled to retain the interim dividend of 3.8 pence per IPF share, announced by the company today, in relation to the period ended 30 June 2025.
The possible offer represents a total value of 223.8 pence per share to IPF shareholders.
In its statement released this morning, IPF notes: “The Board is confident in its strategy and in the company’s standalone future, recognising the strong performance to date outlined in the 2025 Half Year Results released today.
“However, it has carefully considered the Possible Offer with its advisers and has concluded the Possible Offer is at a value that the Board would be minded to recommend unanimously to IPF shareholders, should a firm intention to make an offer pursuant to Rule 2.7 of the Code be announced on such financial terms, subject to the agreement of all other terms and conditions of an offer.
“Accordingly, the Board is in advanced discussions with BasePoint in relation to these terms and other transaction documentation, following completion of due diligence satisfactory to BasePoint.”
In its half year results published this morning, IPF reports profit before tax of £49.9m (H1 24: £47.3m), which it says is ahead of its internal plan and driven by “excellent credit quality and good growth momentum across all our divisions.”
Group customer lending increased by 11 per cent year-on-year, while customer numbers were unchanged at 1.7 million.
IPF adds that it has a robust funding position and capital strength which supports “ambitious” growth plans.
It has headroom on undrawn funding facilities and non-operational cash balances of £92m. And £50m of new bank facilities were secured in the first half, enhancing long-term funding flexibility.
Gerard Ryan, chief executive officer, said: “I’m very pleased with the group’s performance in the first half of the year. Our Next Gen strategy is delivering tangible results, we’ve responded well to good demand for our credit products and achieved strong growth across all our divisions.
“Customer repayment performance has remained excellent, further strengthening our financial position which has resulted in the group delivering pre-exceptional profit before tax of £49.9m, an increase of 5.5 per cent.
“Reflecting this performance and the Board’s confidence in our outlook, we are declaring an interim dividend of 3.8p per share, up 11.8 per cent year-on-year.
The strong first-half performance gives us confidence in our ability to deliver ahead of our internal plan for the full year.”
