Britain’s John Menzies agreed to be acquired by Kuwaiti firm Agility for nearly $750 million on Wednesday, in an effort to create an airport services giant as the aviation industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Menzies shareholders will receive 608 pence in cash per share, which, according to the Edinburgh-based company, represented a premium of about 81% to the Feb. 8 closing price, the day before it received Agility’s initial takeover approach.
Menzies will be combined with National Aviation Services, a unit of Kuwait’s Agility Public Warehousing Co. Agility currently holds a 19% stake in Menzies.
The combined group is expected to be the world’s largest airport services company by the number of countries it operates in and third-largest by revenue, Menzies said.
The agreement follows three earlier proposals from the Kuwaiti firm, all rejected by Menzies.
The British group, like others aviation firms, suffered heavy losses in 2020 as the pandemic hurt global travel but has since recovered thanks to cost controls and restructuring.
Menzies shares were up 3.5% at 590 pence in early trade on the London Stock Exchange.