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European activist fund Petrus Advisers disclosed a stake in French adtech firm Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) on Friday.
Petrus Advisers unveiled a more than 5% stake in Criteo (CRTO) Friday near the close of trading, according to a 13G filing. The activist owns 2.88 million share. The holding would make Petrus among the top 10 holders of the company.
The activist stake comes as Criteo (CRTO) has been speculated as a takeover target for several years, and Reuters reported in February that the adtech firm had hired banker Evercore to explore a sale.
In 2021 Bloomberg reported that Criteo (CRTO) received takeover interest and it was reported in 2017 that giant WPP (WPP) was close to buying the adtech company.
Buyout firms have shown interest in audience measurement and analytics, including the October 2022 acquisition of Nielsen Holdings for $16 billion by Elliott Investment Management and Brookfield Business Partners.
Petrus Advisers is a European activist investor and in October the firm took a small stake in Swiss banking software specialist Temenos (OTCPK:TMNSF) and claimed that the company had ignored takeover interest from private equity investors.
Petrus has also taken stakes in German real estate lender Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (OTCPK:PBBGF) and has waged an activist campaign against Aareal Bank AG (OTCPK:AAALF). The fund has also been critical of German IT services company TeamViewer AG and its sponsorship deals with Manchester United (MANU) and Mercedes Formula 1 racing team.
Last month a DA Davidson analyst wrote that Criteo (CRTO) could be an attractive acquisition target with upside of as much as 40% in a potential takeover at a price of $36-$46 a share.
Criteo (CRTO) could be a target for either strategic or private equity buyers due to its scale and relevance in the high-growth digital advertising and retail media space and its strong free cash flow generation, according to DA Davidson’s analysis.