Listed data management company 1Spatial is expected to be taken into private ownership following an £87 million cash deal.

The board of the Cambridge-based company is recommending that shareholders approve a takeover by VertiGIS, a provider of geographic information systems based in London. The offer of 73 pence per share represents a 57% premium to the closing price of 46.5p on the previous day. The companies have already reportedly received support from 1Spatial’s largest shareholders, who represent 33.8% of the business’s share capital.

1Spatial, led by chief executive officer Claire Milverton, manages geospatial data, helping clients to build a reliable data foundation, ensuring data is current, complete, and consistent across sectors such as utilities, telecommunications, national mapping agencies, government departments, emergency services, defence, census bureaux, and transport organisations. VertiGIS, located in London, is a spatial asset management and geographic information systems solutions provider and software developer.

VertiGIS’s technology is currently used by more than 5,000 utilities, government, telecommunications, and infrastructure organisations, with millions of end-users worldwide. The firm, which has over 500 employees operating from more than 21 offices in 9 countries, confirmed that it has completed its due diligence into 1Spatial. 1Spatial stated that joining VertiGIS, which is supported by industry investment firm Battery Ventures, will “provide an immediate liquidity event at a cash price representing a premium to recent trading, while removing exposure to execution risk inherent in scaling enterprise SaaS companies and to public‑market volatility”.

The firm also added that becoming privately owned would boost investment into its products when compared with the costs and disclosure obligations associated with an AIM listing.

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