Umeco shareholders back Pattonair sell-off

SHAREHOLDERS in aerospace group Umeco have voted overwhelmingly in favour of plans to sell off the firm’s supply chain business Pattonair.

Umeco, which is based in Leamington Spa, intends using the proceeds of the sale, thought to be around £150m, to cut debt and focus the core business on the advanced composites market.

At a general meeting in London yesterday, shareholders voted 35,782,087 against 48,882 in favour of the deal, with 2,033,906 votes withheld.

The agreement satisfies one of the conditions to completion under the disposal agreement. The satisfaction of all other conditions, and the completion of the disposal, is expected to take place next month.

The move has been expected for several months and the Umeco board said it would leave the business clear to develop growth opportunities offered by projects such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The sale is to a company – Quicksilver Holdco – established by funds advised by Exponent Private Equity for an unadjusted cash and debt free value of approximately £145.8m.

The deal is expected to deliver net cash proceeds of £109.3m (before transaction costs), of which £8m will be deferred and paid in four equal quarterly instalments between June 29, 2012 and March 29, 2013.

Umeco will announce its preliminary results on Thursday (June 16).

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