John Menzies: Kuwaitis must increase £469m takeover offer or walk away | City & Business | Finance

On Monday NAS, which is owned by Kuwaiti logistics group Agility, said that its 510p per share offer represents “full and fair” value.

It added that as the firm has neither engaged with it, nor given it any reason to justify why it should command a higher offer, it will not budge on price.

However, Menzies hit back yesterday and said that NAS is trying to acquire it on the cheap. Like other aviationdependent businesses, Menzies has been hammered by the pandemic.

Having consulted with its shareholders, Menzies has set a deadline of 5pm, March 9 for NAS to either come back with a firm, higher offer, or walk away.

The aviation services group said NAS’s offer was “significantly lower” than other deals in the sector over the past decade for companies of the same size.

It added that the offer did not factor in the £25million of cost savings Menzies management have cut from the business in response to Covid-19, the return of traffic to pre-pandemic levels and new revenue opportunities worth up to £200million a year over the short to medium term that are available to it.

In a statement, Menzies said: “The strong portfolio mix, positioning of Menzies and the ongoing execution of our strategy will create significant value for shareholders in the near and medium term. We will consider the best interests of shareholders and all actions to maximise shareholder value.”

Hassan El-Houry, NAS chief executive, said: “Menzies has a strong brand legacy with a geographic presence that is complementary to NAS, but as operators ourselves, we also see a sector facing a number of challenges and a company that lacks the balance sheet to thrive.”

Menzies employs 25,000 globally. It provides air cargo and ground and fuel services, for the likes of British Airways owner International Airlines Group.