A hard day’s night finalising a deal

My son rings with a prank call A partner in the corporate department of Halliwells Liverpool office, Jonathan Brown specialises in mergers and acquisitions. This was his working day on Tuesday, August 14, when the Eddie Stobart deal was agreed. 6.30am: I woke up in the Hilton Hotel, Manchester, as I am acting for the … Continued

Eddie Stobart hauled onto stock market

A pair of Preston professional firms have played a key role in the deal which has taken haulage giants Eddie Stobart on to the London Stock Exchange. Solicitors Brabners Chaffe Street and corporate financiers Dow Schofield Watts were both involved in the reverse flotation, which saw the Carlisle-based group taken over in a £138m deal. … Continued

Stobart trucks along with reverse takeover

Stobart trucks along with the reverse takeover of Westbury Property Eddie Stobart, the iconic road haulage company, is to list on the London Stock Exchange after reversing into Westbury Property Fund. The company’s practice of giving its 900 trucks their unique female name has made it a household name, even spawning an Eddie Stobart fan … Continued

Stobart on the move

The UK’s best known road haulage firm, Eddie Stobart, was today sold for £138m to create a merged transport and logistics company headquartered at Appleton Thorn near Warrington. The company, famous for its 900-strong fleet of green and red trucks, is being bought by former property group Westbury, which owns the port at Runcorn and … Continued

Kitson group sold for £14m

Silverdell, a UK supplier of asbestos contracting and consultancy services, announced the acquisition of Kitsons, an industrial asbestos contracting business, for £14m. The deal will be financed by a £4m existing facility with Barclays Bank and £10m from a placing of shares at 150p. Kitsons provides asbestos removal, insulation and scaffolding services to the nuclear, … Continued

Taygroup buyout deal

The parent company of Wigan-based haulier Taylored Lines and warehouse and distribution business Beeline has undergone a management buyout, in a deal valued at £8.75m. Taygroup , a £22m-turnover enterprise with 155 staff nationwide, has been sold by chairman Nicholas Taylor and finance director Paul Craven. The buyout was led by sales boss Jon Wright, … Continued

Founder of Haulage

Southport businessman Nick Taylor has sold the haulage business he founded 14 years ago to his management team in an £8.75m deal.Mr Taylor, chairman of Taygroup, and Paul Craven, the company’s finance director, have sold their shareholdings to an MBO team led by sales director Jon Wright and operations director Lloyd Dennaford. Mr Craven will … Continued

Club to pay £21m charges for debt

The new American owners of Liverpool FC last night refused to comment on claims that the club might shoulder the burden of paying multi-million pound interest charges on the debt they have raised to fund their acquisition. While Tom Hicks and George Gillett have personally underwritten the £300m they have raised from Royal Bank of … Continued