Agility completes £763m acquisition of Menzies Aviation

Agility, a supply chain services, infrastructure and innovation company, announced that it has finalized its acquisition of UK-based John Menzies PLC and will combine the business with its National Aviation Services (NAS) business to create a world leader in aviation services in 58 countries.

Once integrated, the combined company will operate as Menzies Aviation and will be the world’s largest aviation services company by number of countries and second largest by number of airports served.

Operating as Menzies Aviation, the combined company will provide air cargo services, fuel services and ground services at airports on six continents. Combined revenues of Menzies and NAS exceeded $1.5bn in 2021.

The new company will have approximately 35,000 employees and operations at 254 airports in 58 countries, handling 600k aircraft turns, 2 million tonnes of air cargo and 2.5 million fuelling turns per year.

“Menzies and NAS will create the world leader in aviation services,” said Hassan El-Houry, who becomes Chairman of the combined company, having previously held the role of NAS CEO.

“We will have the scale and resources to expand and grow as the industry recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Commercial aviation is a key engine of global economic growth, and our customers need partners they can count on as flight volumes return.”

The company’s customers will include Air Canada, Air China, Air France-KLM, America Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, EasyJet, Emirates, Ethiopian, FlyDubai, Frontier Airlines, IAG, Jazeera, Qantas Group, Qatar Airways, Southwest, Turkish, United Airlines, WestJet and Wizz Air.

Agility vice chairman Tarek Sultan said, “This is a new chapter for Agility, Menzies, and NAS. By acquiring Menzies and combining it with NAS, Agility has the opportunity to unlock greater value in both.”

The boards of Agility and Menzies reached agreement March 30 on Agility’s cash offer to acquire 100 per cent of Menzies ordinary shares, which traded on the London Stock Exchange, for 608 pence a share. The deal values Menzies at approximately £571m on a fully diluted basis and approximately £763m on an enterprise value basis.