John Menzies accepts new £560m takeover offer

Edinburgh-based John Menzies is likely to be sold to a Kuwaiti company after bosses said they planned to accept a renewed offer of nearly £560 million.

The board said that NAS, a subsidiary of Agility Public Warehousing, had upped its bid for the company by around £90 million.

“The board has considered the final proposal and indicated to NAS that it would be willing unanimously to recommend an offer at the financial terms of the final proposal to Menzies shareholders,” the board said in a statement.

After two previous attempts, it seems like Agility’s 608p per share deal will bring to a close a weeks-long back-and-forth over the takeover.

By holding firm against a 460p and a later 510p bid, bosses have netted close to £140 million more for their shareholders from the deal.

They said they will recommend the new near-£560 million approach to shareholders if they are happy with Agility and NAS’s approach to getting a sign-off from the authorities.

“Accordingly, the board is in discussions with NAS in relation to these terms and will be providing NAS with access to management and due diligence information,” the board said.

“NAS has confirmed to the board that the financial terms of the Final Proposal are final and will not be increased,” it added – although this could change if someone else tries to take over John Menzies.

Founded in 1833 as a bookshop, John Menzies moved into news distribution before finally transforming into an airport services firm through a series of acquisitions since the 1980s and the sale of the distribution arm in 2018.

Today it handles cargo, planes on the ground and fuelling, and employs thousands of people in 37 different countries.