Stobart Group completes acquisition of Propius
This follows the announcement on 18 November 2016 that the Group had agreed in principle to acquire the remaining 33% interest in Propius from Aer Lingus, taking the Group’s interest in Propius to 100%.
The consideration for the transaction was $14.7 million in cash funded from the sale from treasury on 18 November 2016 of 10,081,778 ordinary shares of 10p each of the Company, at 155 pence per share. As part of the transaction, Aer Lingus has released security over certain cash balances of Propius and other group companies in exchange for a guarantee from other Stobart Group companies for an initial €18m which is expected to reduce to €8m in due course.
Propius recorded profit before tax of $2.8 million for the year ended 31 December 2016 and had gross assets at that date of $153.3 million.
In addition, the Group has also completed the acquisition of the remaining 19% interest in Everdeal Holdings Limited (“Everdeal”), the holding company of Stobart Air, taking its interest in Everdeal to 100%.
Warwick Brady, Deputy CEO of Stobart commented “The Aviation Division is a key growth focus for the Group over the next few years. The completion of the acquisitions of Propius and Stobart Air give us more control over our ability to continue to grow and develop our operations across the UK, Ireland and Europe, and to deliver our target of welcoming 2.5 million passengers at London Southend Airport (above) annually by 2018. We are now operating Stobart Air’s regional services under franchise agreements with Aer Lingus and Flybe and aim to continue to grow with our partners whilst also attracting an increased share of London’s 160 million passenger, capacity constrained market to London Southend.”
