Essensys has recorded a 10% drop in its share price after it accepted an £11.3m acquisition offer from its founder and chief executive officer, Mark Furness, to take the company private.

The 17 pence per share offer represents a premium of 9.7% on its closing price on 27 November, which was the last business day prior to the commencement of the offer period.

As an alternative to the cash offer, shareholders in the flexible workspace technology company will be offered one new share for each Essensys share held.

The acquisition offer comes after the firm, which trades on AIM and serves customers across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, came under new leadership in the last 12 months and as it has simplified its go-to-market strategy and two core offerings, Essensys Platform and elumo.

However, the firm announced last year that the macroeconomic environment has led to elongated sales cycles and slower than anticipated adoption rates, which was set to impact its sales. As a result, it lowered its FY26 expectations.

In the last year, shares in Essensys have fallen by over 56%.

Furness stated: "I founded Essensys almost 20 years ago and remain its largest shareholder. In recent years, we have undertaken significant work to reshape the business - strengthening our digital experience capabilities, deepening relationships with blue-chip global customers and materially improving our cost base and operational discipline.

"Essensys Platform has been repositioned to meet evolving market needs, and elumo, following a long and complex development journey, is now at the beginning of its commercial rollout.

“However, trading volatility and continued weakness in the company's share price mean that, in my view, Essensys cannot sustainably continue as a quoted company in its current form. The costs, constraints and short-term pressures associated with a public quotation are increasingly disproportionate to the company's scale and to the investment required to realise the opportunity ahead.”

He added that he believes that the firm now neds to operate as a private company with “greater agility, a lower structural cost base and a longer-term horizon”.

Chair at Essensys, Jon Lee, stated that the board remains confident of its long-term strategic opportunity.

He concluded: "We believe that the cash offer provides Essensys shareholders with a certain value today, while also recognising the strategic merits of the company operating in a private setting. It is our view that private ownership will provide Essensys with greater flexibility to focus on long-term strategic priorities, customer delivery and product innovation, without the short-term pressures and reporting requirements associated with being admitted to trading on AIM.

"We also recognise that with appropriate access to capital and operational support, Essensys can accelerate growth, enhance efficiency and unlock further value creation. Accordingly, the Essensys independent directors consider the terms of the acquisition to be fair and reasonable and recommend that Essensys shareholders accept the cash offer."

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