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Mergers & Acquisitions 1997
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

The information below comes from the UK Activity Report.
Click here for further details

Critchley Group, the maker of cable components, is acquiring Groupe Riondet-Malbert of France for £7.8m. 29-Dec-1997 Starwood Lodging Trust, the US hotels group, has bought Turnberry Hotel Golf Courses and Spa in Scotland from Nitto Kogyo for £32m. 27-Dec-1997 Wilshaw, the metals and building materials company, is planning to sell its distribution division to a new company called Tractiv Holdings for £22m. 24-Dec-1997 First Call, the ticketing agency, has accepted a £7.3m takeover offer from KanDo, a subsidiary of Loyalty Management Holdings. 24-Dec-1997 Arlen is acquiring Plasmec, the electrical and electronic components manufacturer, for £11m. 12-Dec-1997 Old Mutual of South Africa is to acquire Capel Cure Myers Capital Management, the UK private client stockbroker, for undisclosed terms. 11-Dec-1997 Readicut is to sell European Carpets, its carpets manufacturing business, to Interface of the US for £30m, and it is now looking for buyers for its UK yarn spinning business and its US carpet business. 06-Dec-1997 Morris Ashby, the automotive castings company, is being acquired by Automotive Components Investments of the US for £49m. 04-Dec-1997 Dawson Holdings is acquiring Johnsons News, the newspaper and magazine wholesaling business, for £32m, giving it about 20% of the market. 03-Dec-1997 Jardine Lloyd Thompson is acquiring Colburn French & Kneen Holdings, the Lloyds broker that specialises in marine insurance, for £5.25m. 26-Nov-1997 M-R Group has acquired PCL Group, the information supplier, for £4.5m. 15-Nov-1997 Timothy Benn Publishing, which prints the Post Magazine, is being sold to a management buy-in for £17m. 13-Nov-1997 Ransomes, the engineering company that supplies grass-cutting equipment to golf courses, is being acquired by Textron of the US for £83m, and Textron is planning to expand the Ipswich factory. 11-Nov-1997 Motorcycle City, the chain of motorcycle dealers, has been sold to a management buy-out with the support of venture capitalist Electra Fleming for undisclosed terms. 07-Nov-1997 Eadie Holdings is selling Ross & Bonnyman, its mechanical handling equipment division, to Ledge 345, a company formed for the purpose, for £8.2m. 31-Oct-1997 Protean, the water filtering equipment company, is to be acquired by Culligan Water Technologies of the US for £105m. 23-Oct-1997 Baker Tilly is to merge with Casson Beckman to create the 13th largest accountancy firm in the UK. 23-Oct-1997 MWB Leisure Fund has bought the Bentley Bridge Leisure Park in Wolverhampton for £17.3m, and is now said to be the UK's largest owner of leisure parks. 21-Oct-1997 Crystal Holidays, the holiday operator, has been acquired by a management team backed by BZW Private Equity, in a £150m deal. 17-Oct-1997 Sixt of Germany is to acquire European Car Rental of the UK, and will expand the business from eight to 50 offices as it launches a major assault on the UK market. 10-Oct-1997 Plettac of Germany is acquiring a majority stake in NSG Services, the UK scaffolding company, for undisclosed terms, and will use the acquisition as a springboard to introduce its prefabricated systems into the UK. 09-Oct-1997 H&C Furnishings has launched a £48m agreed offer for Kingsbury, giving it an additional 79 furniture shops. 09-Oct-1997 Holt Lloyd has acquired the Simoniz car care products business from Burmah Castrol for £7m. 04-Oct-1997 Maybridge Chemical Company of Cornwall is being acquired by a management team backed by 3i in a £20m deal. 03-Oct-1997 GMBM, the recruitment advertising agency, has been acquired by a management team from Osprey Communications for about £1m. 03-Oct-1997 Semple Cochrane is acquiring two Scottish marine engineering companies - Garvel Clyde for £1.9m and Forth Estuary Engineering for £2.5m. 30-Sep-1997 Benfield is acquiring Greig Fester, the rival re-insurance company, for £120m. 26-Sep-1997 Metsin, a new company set up by Alchemy Partners, is planning to acquire Instem, the electronics and information systems company, for about £9.8m. 24-Sep-1997 London & Overseas Freighters, the tanker group based in Bermuda and listed in London, is preparing to merge with Frontline, the Norwegian shipping company. 23-Sep-1997 Premier Asset Management is acquiring Fleethope and Fleetlynx, the fund management operations, from Fraser Smith for £2.8m. 18-Sep-1997 Munich Re has acquired Apollo Underwriting, the Lloyd's managing agency that specialises in marine insurance, for about £3m. 17-Sep-1997 International Maritime Group has acquired Stephenson Clarke Shipping, the Tyneside ship-owner, for £47m, and plans to develop into the largest integrated maritime transport group in Europe. 17-Sep-1997 4Front has acquired Firstpoint, the computer maintenance business, from Stratagem for an initial £2.5m. 13-Sep-1997 Gartland Whalley and Barker has acquired General Clutch Corporate of the US and its RollEase trading subsidiary for £18m. 12-Sep-1997 Pointfield is acquiring the Wharfedale loudspeakers business and the Quad hi-fi business from Verity for £4.8m, and Verity will take a 40% stake in Pointfield. 06-Sep-1997 VFG has bought GP Film Services, the broadcast equipment rental concern, for £1.4m. 06-Sep-1997 Marling Industries, the seat belt webbing company, is being acquired by Autoliv of Sweden for £31m. 30-Aug-1997 Photobition Group is acquiring Scanachrome, the graphics business, for up to £3m in order to expand its product range and geographical coverage. 30-Aug-1997 Compagnie Generale des Eaux of France is to acquire Leigh Interests, the UK waste disposal company, for £116m. 29-Aug-1997 Rushmere Wynne, the financial publisher, is acquiring Coutts Consulting's training division for £6.5m, which includes the Eynsham Hall and Chewton Place training companies. 28-Aug-1997 Shippam, the fish paste company, has been sold to a management team backed by NatWest Ventures for about £15m, and now plans to launch new fillings, canned chicken and ready meals. 25-Aug-1997 Gardner Merchant Sodexho has acquired KS Building Services and Genesis Facilities Management from KS Group for undisclosed terms. 19-Aug-1997 Dage, the electronics company, has been sold to a management buy-in team with support from the Royal Bank of Scotland, for £23m. 05-Aug-1997 Shorco Group Holdings, the supplier of steel storage cabins and health and safety equipment to the construction industry, is to undergo a reverse takeover by Peterhouse Group and Lowfields Technology Group for undisclosed terms, and the new group will be called Peterhouse. 28-Jul-1997 Avimo Group of Singapore is acquiring the Optronics division of OMI International, the engineering solutions group, for £8m. 25-Jul-1997 Grampian Pharmaceuticals, the animal healthcare company, is being sold to management by Grampian Holdings for £68m. 19-Jul-1997 Precision Engineering International has been set up as a new company to acquire Metal Spinners Group, the Newcastle-based metal processing business, for about £6m. 16-Jul-1997 Shalibane, the maker of products for the European motor industry, is acquiring BWL Component Engineering and Alpha Tubes for £3.6m. 11-Jul-1997 Fedsure of South Africa is moving into the UK with the acquisitions of Beale Dobie from Hambro Insurance Services for £15m, and Policy Portfolio. 28-Jun-1997 Edgemond Engineering of the West Midlands has been sold by Edgemond Group to a management buy-out for £8.6m. 17-Jun-1997 Britax International has acquired Buderus Sell, the German maker of aircraft interiors, for £73m. 17-Jun-1997 Valmet of Finland is acquiring Atlas Converting Equipment, the packaging equipment maker, for £86m. 05-Jun-1997 Coal Products Holdings has acquired British Fuels, the coal, oil and gas distributor, for £32m, giving it national coverage for the first time. 04-Jun-1997 Hanson has sold Hanson Electrical to a management buy-out for £145m, and the business will be renamed Electrium. 15-Apr-1997 Carrs Paper, the West Midlands-based paper and packaging concern, has been acquired by institutional investors for £24.4m. 08-Apr-1997 The Peacock and Millets chains of clothing retailers are being sold to a management buy-out for £78m, and plans are being prepared to open 40 stores a year. 04-Apr-1997 Forward Group, the printed circuit board company, is being acquired by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, the US buy-out specialist, for £129m. 04-Mar-1997 Geoworks of the US has bought Eden Group, the UK software company, for £18m in order to develop its smart phones business. 14-Feb-1997 Core Laboratories of Texas has acquired Scott Pickford, the UK oil consultancy, for £7.5m. 08-Feb-1997 National Railway Supplies, the provider of equipment for track maintenance, has been sold to a management buy-out with the backing of Unipart. 04-Feb-1997 Olivetti is selling its PC division to Piedmont International, a new company set up for the purpose, for up to £116m, in order to focus on telecommunications. 21-Jan-1997 The information below comes from the UK Activity Report. Click here for further details Copyright UK Business Park 1995-2007