Tate & Lyle could become the latest company to quit the London stock market after it emerged as a possible target for the US private equity firm Advent International.
Advent is in the early stages of preparing a bid for the FTSE 250 company, according to the Financial Times, lifting its shares by 62p, or 8.3 per cent, to close at 807p. Advent and Tate & Lyle declined to comment.
The American firm has bought a number of London-listed companies in recent years including Cobham International, the defence group, and Ultra Electronics, the aerospace specialist.
Tate & Lyle was formed when Henry Tate, a sugar merchant, went into partnership with John Wright, a Liverpool sugar refiner, in 1859. The group introduced sugar cubes