£85m hostile takeover at construction group completed
A HOSTILE takeover has been completed at construction group ISG, which has offices in Birmingham.
US investment group Cathexis has bought the business, which offers fitout as well as design and project management services, in an £85m deal.
Investment bank Altium advised on the deal, which saw the ISG board give in after 10 weeks struggling to keep control.
ISG, formerly Interior Services Group, was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 1998, and has annualised revenues of £1.6bn.
Based in Houston, Texas, Cathexis has been a “significant” shareholder in ISG since March 2012.
Being the largest investor in ISG’s March 2015 fundraising, it held 29.5% of ISG’s shares before launching a hostile cash offer.
It was responding to a significant fall in ISG’s share price, with the offer launching at a price of 143p before it was raised to 171p per share, by which point Cathexis had built up a 48% stake in the business.
A team at Altium, led by managing director Stephen Georgiadis, director Tim Richardson and associate Declan O’Connor, acted as exclusive financial adviser to Cathexis on the deal.
William Harrison, chief executive of Cathexis, said: “Cathexis is a long-standing supportive shareholder in ISG. Under our stewardship, we believe the company has a strong future and we are very pleased to have completed the acquisition. Altium’s strategic and tactical advice, its management of the transaction and its knowledge and application of the Takeover Code were invaluable to us.”
Stephen Georgiadis, managing director at Altium, said: “We are delighted to have assisted Cathexis in consolidating its control of ISG. The stability provided by the commitment of a well-funded reference shareholder like Cathexis should ensure a strong and promising future for ISG.”
