De La Rue plc is a British company renowned for its work in currency and security printing. Thomas De La Rue founded the company in 1821.
It has grown into one of the world’s leading producers of banknotes, identity documents, and security printing technologies.
Thomas was born on 24 March 1793, in Guernsey, Channel Islands, and he died on 7 December 1866, in London, England.
He started as a printer and stationer in Guernsey and later moved to London in the 1820s.
His company expanded into printing postage stamps, cheques, and banknotes.
De La Rue began printing postage stamps for the UK in 1855 and later for other countries.
Kenya began working with De La Rue in 1963, when the company started printing Kenyan currency.
The company initially operated from the UK, but in 1992, it established a local subsidiary in Nairobi, De La Rue Kenya EPZ Limited, to facilitate its operations.
In 2016, the Kenyan government signed a joint venture agreement with De La Rue, acquiring a 40 percent stake in its Kenyan subsidiary for approximately Ksh660 million.
The partnership officially commenced in April 2019.
Owners of De La Rue
De La Rue’s major shareholders included Schroder Investment Management Ltd. (14.09%), Aberforth Partners LLP (10.82%) and Richard Griffiths (7.99%).
Crystal Amber Advisers owned 7.06% while The Wellcome Trust had 6.19%.
In April 2025, De La Rue plc agreed to a £263 million all-cash takeover by U.S. private equity firm Atlas Holdings.
The acquisition will conclude in the third quarter of 2025, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.
Afterwards, De La Rue will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange, ending nearly 80 years as a publicly traded company.
In early 2025, Edi Truell, a British financier, made a higher offer to acquire De La Rue.
However, De La Rue’s board rejected this offer due to concerns over financing and deal clarity.
The board instead supported the all-cash takeover bid from Atlas Holdings.
Truell is known for his involvement in various investment ventures, including Pension SuperFund Capital.
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About Atlas Holdings
Atlas Holdings and its affiliates are a diversified group of 27 manufacturing and distribution businesses.
This includes automotive, building materials, business services and solutions.
Others are construction, energy, food and beverage, industrial services, metals, packaging, printing, pulp, paper, and logistics industries.
Andrew Bursky and Tim Fazio founded Atlas Holdings in 2002 with the purchase of a small paper mill in rural Indiana that employed 85 people.
Since then, they have maintained their strategy.
They have also expanded the capacity and capability of their team of investment professionals and operating partners.
Andrew Bursky
Bursky currently serves as the chairman of Atlas Holdings.
holds a B.A. in Economics, a B.S., and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Washington University.
He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
He co-founded Interlaken Capital in 1980 and served as Managing Director until 1999.
Bursky was also a Co-Managing Partner at Pegasus Capital Advisors from 1999 to 2002.
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Tim Fazio
Fazio served as Managing Partner at Atlas Holdings.
He worked as a principal at Pegasus Capital Advisors between June 1999 and December 2001.
Before this, he worked as Vice President at Interlaken Capital.
Fazio holds a BA in Economics from University of Pennsylvania.
He attended the Kinnelon High School between 1987 and 1991.
Fazio is also a Fellow of the 2017 Class of the Aspen Institute’s Finance Leadership Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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