Menzies Aviation accepts £571m takeover by Kuwaiti rival

The 608p per share deal was the fourth offer by NAS this year

Bosses at Menzies Aviation have accepted a £571m takeover bid by a Kuwaiti firm for the Scottish air services company.

The offer by National Aviation Services (NAS) was made over a month ago, but was still conditional.

The board of Menzies, one of Scotland's largest firms, has recommended the bid to shareholders as a "fair price".

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

NAS is a subsidiary of Kuwait-based logistics conglomerate Agility Public Warehousing which works in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Menzies said on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement on the terms of the deal with the suitor.

The 608p per share deal follows previous bids of 460p, 510p and 605p made in February.

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NAS has expanded across emerging markets in recent years and already owns a 19% stake in Menzies Aviation after purchasing millions of pounds worth of shares earlier this year.

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

Menzies chief executive Philipp Joeinig said: "The Menzies directors believe that the offer represents a fair and recommendable price for shareholders which recognises Menzies' future prospects.

"Menzies is an outstanding business with a long and rich history."

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.

Mr Joeinig said: "The board of Menzies applauds the work that the Menzies management team have done to steer the business through the challenging impacts of the pandemic and position the business for continued future growth and the next evolution in its journey."

Agility vice-chairman Tarek Sultan said they were focused on "growth and shareholder value creation" and investing in companies in "high-growth sectors with strong fundamentals, reinforced by management teams with established records".

Menzies started in Edinburgh 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. It sold its distribution arm in 2018.