Cosalt share placing funds acquisition
MARINE safety equipment group Cosalt today announced a £3m share placing to help fund its recent acquisition of a Norwegian business.
The placing of 1,233,500 new ordinary shares at 240p each has been fully underwritten by Cosalt chairman David Ross, the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, and Bermuda-based Sovereign Holding, which represents the wealthy Rappaport family which owns a significant shareholding in Cosalt.
The Grimsby-based group is buying Myhre-Maritime, a marine safety business in Stavanger, for up to £12m to strengthen its North Sea market.
In the year to December 2007, Myhre recorded a pre-tax profit of £1.8m on turnover of £8m. Gross assets were £4.2m.
The acquisition is part of Cosalt’s ambitious plans to become a leading global player in the provision of safety and protection services to the marine and offshore oil and gas industries.
The firm, which provides critical safety equipment for the marine industry including the life raft, life boat, life jacket, fire safety and lifting and inspection sectors, has been on the acquisition trail for the past year spending more than £40m on three acquisitions to expand its marine safety business in Europe.
Earlier this year it parted company with chief executive Per Jonsson who was replaced last month by Mark Lejman who has worked in countries including Russia, China and Canada over the last 30 years.
Cosalt said he was “eminently qualified” to lead the group through its next stage of development, which includes expanding across the globe.
From 1978 to 1998, Mr Lejman worked at Courtaulds where he held a number of senior management positions, latterly as chief executive of its Tencel premium fibres division. In 1998, he was part of the team that led the management buy-out of Tencel from Akzo Nobel, which had acquired Courtaulds that year.
At Acordis Group, as Tencel became known, Mr Lejman was chief executive of the group’s Cellulosic Fibres division.
He was then recruited by The Morgan Crucible Co, as a director and chief executive of its Carbon Division. Between 2004 and earlier this year, he helped the group to build its presence in new growth market sectors.
Interim results for the six months ended April 27 saw Cosalt’s turnover rise to £49.6m compared to £32m in 2007. Operating profit before tax rose 476% to £3.1m compared to £0.54m for the same period the year before.
