Sophos was gearing up for a private life – then someone remembered the bike scheme
Due dil 101
By John Oates 27 Feb 2020 at 11:57
Today was meant to be Brit security biz Sophos's last day on the London Stock Exchange following its £3bn purchase by a US venture capital company.
But there's been a bump in the road, a stick in the wheel, because Sophos was a member of the UK government's "cycle to work" scheme – which offers staff loans to pay for bicycles and related stuff like lights, helmets and panniers.
The trouble is that the bike scheme is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. So anyone taking control of Sophos needs to clear its obligations under the cycle scheme with the FCA. And someone took their eye off the ball and didn't spot this. This will likely be a textbook example of due diligence, the process that sees hordes of overpaid junior lawyers and accountants poring over every tiny detail of a business before going ahead with a merger or takeover.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/02/27/sophos_selloff_stopped_by_bike_scheme/
