Premier Farnell: Struggling Leeds electronics firm in £792m takeover by Swiss conglomerate

The Swiss firm said it was too early to say whether the deal will involve job losses at the electronics distributor.

Premier has been struggling with weak sales in the UK and North America and said the deal recognises the quality of the business and its future prospects. Premier’s shares leapt by 50 per cent following the announcement.

Datwyler said the two electrical components distributors have complementary product ranges and regional networks and the combination would boost their scale and global reach.

The offer price of 165​p per Premier Farnell share is a 51 per cent premium to Premier‘s closing price on Monday. Datwyler, which distributes more than 500,000 electronics products, said the combination would create a group with total revenues of £1.8bn.

Premier​‘s shares have​ fallen 10 per cent since last September when the company announced a cut in its dividend and the sale of a non-core unit.