Banks take stake in White Young Green
WHITE Young Green (WYG), the design and engineering consultancy, has announced a debt-for-equity swap, which will see its banks take a majority stake in the business.
The deal will see WYG’s banks Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Fortis take a 60.5% stake in return for converting around £50m of the £91.5m debt owed to them into new ordinary shares and preference shares.
The balance of the monies owing to the banks will be refinanced into term debt and working capital facilities including €38m of committed bonding facilities, each with a three-year term.
If approved existing shareholders will own 15% with a new employee benefit trust owning 24.5%. It will also require WYG to leave the London Stock Exchange’s main market and migrate to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with a new name – WYG plc.
The group’s fortunes have also been lifted with the announcement of annual profits of £12m before £141m in exceptional costs and other items.
Paul Hamer, chief executive of WYG, said that the deal was a central piece of the jigsaw for creating a new future for the group. “We have been trying to fix the balance sheet, which has dogged the company for some time,” he said. “The deal means we can put WYG on a stable financial footing.”
He added: “We have been through profound change in the last 12 months, which has seen us look to restructure our finances, operations, processes and senior leadership team. All of this has being undertaken against the backdrop of a global recession and unpredictable conditions in the markets in which we operate.”
White Yong Green is headquartered in Leeds but has offices in Manchester, Salford, Liverpool and Cockermouth, Cumbria. It employs around 3,000 staff, 500 of which are based in Leeds.
