16th May 2014 10:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Babcock International Group PLC said Friday it has completed the acquisition of Avincis, a provider of helicopter and fixed wing services.
Babcock has acquired the business in order to create a strong platform for future growth and enhance value for shareholders, employees and customers, it said.
The acquisition was funded through a GBP1.10 billion rights issue, it launched to finance the acquisition of helicopter company. Last week Babcock said the rights issue had a 96.62% acceptance rate among shareholders. The firm said it received acceptances for 134.6 million new shares under the five for 13 rights issue.
The rights issue was announced in March when the company announced that it would buy Avincis from Investindustrial and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co for GBP920.0 million in cash. Babcock will also assume GBP705.0 million in net debt under the deal.
Avincis is a provider of helicopter and fixed wing services in mission critical operations such as medical, search and rescue, fire-fighting and civil protection in Europe and a leading supplier of critical offshore crew-change helicopter services to the oil and gas industry in the UK sector of the North Sea, with the ambition to expand its operations in the growing Norwegian and Australian offshore oil and gas markets.
"The acquisition of Avincis meets Babcock's strategic objectives as it brings into the Babcock Group a market-leading business, delivering mission critical services and complex engineering support to blue-chip customers in multiple geographies. Avincis already has a strong growth platform and its combination with Babcock will generate even greater expansion opportunities and value creation for Babcock's shareholders," said Peter Rogers, Chief Executive of Babcock.
Shares in Babcock were trading 2.2% lower at 1197.4061 pence per share Friday morning.
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
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