Kuwait’s Agility to close John Menzies acquisition in August

The deal will combine the UK company with National Aviation Services to create one of the largest airport services businesses

Menzies will be combined with National Aviation Services, a unit of Agility. Photo: Menzies Aviation

Kuwait-based Agility, one of the largest logistics companies in the Mena region, expects to close a deal to fully acquire UK-based John Menzies on August 4.

The British airport services group's shareholders approved the deal in June.

The conditions related to foreign direct investment and antitrust approvals have now been met or waived, Agility said in a filing to the Dubai Financial Market on Monday.

“This is another important step in the transaction, although the closing of the deal still remains subject to certain other conditions, including the approval of the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Scotland,” Agility said.

The £571 million ($751m) deal will create an airport services giant as air travel makes a strong recovery from the coronavirus-induced slowdown.

Travel demand has come roaring back after two years of lockdowns, leaving understaffed airports and airlines struggling to cope with an influx of travellers.

Menzies will be combined with National Aviation Services, a unit of Kuwait's Agility, once the deal has been completed.

The combined group is expected to be the largest worldwide by the number of countries it operates in, second largest in terms of airports served and third largest in terms of revenue.

It will have about 35,000 employees and a presence at more than 250 airports in 57 countries, handling more than 600,000 aircraft turns a year.

Agility reported a 1 per cent rise in first-quarter net income as revenue climbed.

Net profit attributable to equity holders of the parent company for the three-month period to the end of March climbed to 12.8m Kuwaiti dinars ($41.7m), including income from the discontinued operations of its unit Global Integrated Logistics.

The company's revenue jumped 22.3 per cent to 132.1m dinars in the quarter.