Menzies Aviation Faces £560m Takeover By Kuwaiti Rival

Menzies Aviation, one of Scotland's largest firms, is likely to be taken over by a Kuwait-based rival.

The Edinburgh-based ground services company, formerly bookseller John Menzies, works in 37 countries.

Three previous offers from National Aviation Services, which works in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had been rejected.

A fourth offer of £560m has now been recommended to shareholders in a statement from company directors.

The firm started in 1833 selling Charles Dickens books and The Scotsman newspaper, and became a high street name across the UK.

It became one of Britain's biggest newspaper distributors, expanding into air freight from 1987.

The company cut more than 17,500 jobs worldwide in March 2020 because of the downturn in air travel due to the pandemic, but remained one of Scotland's biggest businesses.

National Aviation Services (NAS) is a subsidiary of the Kuwait-based logistics conglomerate Agility.

NAS has expanded across emerging markets in recent years and now owns a 19% stake in Menzies Aviation after purchasing millions of pounds worth of shares in the past month.

Its final offer of 608p per share follows previous bids of 460p, 510p and 605p.

"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.

"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."

It added that NAS had confirmed to the board that "the financial terms of the final proposal are final and will not be increased," although this could change if someone else tried to take over Menzies Aviation.

Philipp Joeinig, Menzies Avaition's chairman and chief executive, described previous offers as "unsolicited and highly opportunistic" which did not reflect the company's true value.

Menzies Avaition has 25,000 employees in 37 countries, providing passenger, baggage and aircraft handling services.