Logistics giant TDG is currently subject to a takeover bid from Laxey Partners Limited, an Isle of Man-based hedge fund manager - or, as it describes itself, a "globally active value investor". Well, whatever that means, you'd expect the fund to have no intrinsic interest to a transport anorak such as me (and, I expect, you).
But look deep enough, and there's always a link somewhere: it turns out that until recently Laxey owned a fair chunk of Saurer AG, the Swiss manufacturer of textile machinery - and previously, of trucks like this:
This fine specimen belongs to the 100-strong collection of Lastwagen Stutz GmbH, a Swiss truck maintenance firm which still offers a complete repair and restoration service for Saurer and Berna trucks. Sadly, proprietor Walter Stutz is not related (as far as I can see) to the other great Stutz...
There's another bit of geeky trivia here: Saurer AG is now owned by OC Oerlikon Group, which has its roots in (you guessed it!) the firm which produced the famous Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon. Phew!
Oh, and either The Times Online has its sums wrong, or we do: the Thunderer's report on the TDG bid puts its value at "about £216m", whereas we reckon that with 80,967,000 shares at 275 pence each, the bid is worth £222.7m. Still, what's £7m between friends?
Comments (1)
Heh - £7m is nothing between Laxey Partners and TDG :)
Posted by Go Mann | February 29, 2008 1:04 PM
Posted on February 29, 2008 13:04