De La Rue to Exit Tax Stamps as Crane Comes in

Following De La Rue’s announcement, a few months ago, that it was in discussions with several parties interested in acquiring one or both of its businesses – Authentication and Currency – the company has now entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of its Authentication division to Crane NXT, for £300 million.

Included in this division is De La Rue’s extensive tax stamp and traceability business. This includes contracts with most of the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, as well as contracts with Cameroon and Sudan in Africa. The company also provides non-fiscal labels to tobacco organisations in seven European markets, enabling them to meet their security feature obligations under the EU Tobacco Products Directive.

Crane NXT already entered the tax stamp market earlier this year, via its acquisition of OpSec Security, another prominent company in this market. OpSec currently provides tax stamp/traceability solutions to countries including Malta, Mozambique, Estonia, and Portugal. In early 2023, it developed an authentication and traceability programme for the state-owned tobacco authority in Lebanon.