Raspberry Pi maker Premier Farnell bought by Daetwyler

One of the two UK companies licensed to manufacture the Raspberry Pi mini computer is being bought by Swiss electronics company Daetwyler Holdings for 1bn Swiss francs (£700m).

The deal values Premier Farnell shares at 165p each. The shares soared 50% to 164p after the takeover was announced.

Daetwyler distributes more than 500,000 electronics products under brands such as Nedis.

Premier Farnell had struggled recently to boost profits and sales.

It has cut dividend payouts to shareholders, and sold its industrial products business, Akron Brass, for $224.2m.

Eben Upton, the pioneer of the Raspberry Pi, was made a CBE in the Queen's latest Birthday Honours list.

The Pi has proved hugely popular with electronics hobbyists and many children use the devices to get a taste of computer coding.

In addition to Premier, the non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation licenses the manufacture of the computer to another UK firm, RS Components.

In April 2016, the Pi became the most popular British computer ever made.

More than eight million have been sold since it was launched in early 2012.