Stock market stalwart acquired
The sale of Edinburgh-based aviation services and cargo handling firm John Menzies saw one of Scotland’s oldest listed businesses fall into overseas hands.
The board of the group accepted a £571 million offer from Kuwaiti business Agility that will combine Menzies with its aviation services unit. The deal has created the world’s largest aviation services company with operations in 58 countries. DLA Piper was legal adviser to Menzies and Goldman Sachs was financial adviser.
North Sea sale
The acquisition of Aberdeen-based Siccar Point Energy by Ithaca Energy in a $1.5 billion transaction makes the combined group one of the leading exploration and production operators in the North Sea with four of the basin’s largest producing fields and some of its largest development projects.
Pinsent Masons’ Glasgow-based head of oil and gas Rosalie Chadwick led on the deal for Ithaca. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Siccar Point, as well as its sponsors, Blackstone Energy Partners and Blue Water Energy.
Transatlantic tech takeover
Edinburgh-based Codeplay Software, which focuses on improving the performance of computer chips used in supercomputers and self-driving cars, was acquired by US tech giant Intel in the latest of a series of transatlantic takeovers of Scottish technology firms.
The £48 million agreement with Foresight Group, which first invested in Codeplay in 2018, saw it achieve a 15.7x multiple on capital invested. Foresight’s advisers on the transaction were Acuity, Edinburgh-based MBM Commercial and Goodwin Procter.
Employees take control
Scottish bingo centre chain Carlton Bingo moved into employee ownership after successfully emerging from the challenges posed by Covid lockdowns.
The four major shareholders – Chris Barr, George Carter, Brian King and Peter Perrins – set up an Employee Ownership Trust to give staff a controlling stake in the 10-centre business
The transaction was managed by Avondale Corporate, while Douglas Roberts and Nimarta Cheema of Lindsays provided legal advice. Carole Leslie of Ownership Associates worked with the directors on employee communication around the deal
Life sciences funding deal
Edinburgh life sciences company Cytomos raised £1.6 million from a trio of investors to progress its novel cell analysis platform. The fundraising was led by existing investor Archangels with participation from Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital. A team from Burges Salmon in Edinburgh advised on the deal, led by senior associate Katie Carter.
