Board of Straight plc backs €13m offer by One51

The environmental services group One51 has reached an agreement with the board of Straight to acquire the British wheelie-bin maker for £10.7 million (€13 million).

The cash offer was recommended to shareholders of Straight by the boards of both companies., One51 said the offer was a 66 per cent premium to the closing price of 47p of Straight’s shares on February 13th when the offer period began.

“The board of Straight, which has been so advised by Cenkos Securities, consider the offer to be fair and reasonable,” the company said.

One 51 said it had received an irrevocable undertaking from the directors of Straight for 39.6 per cent of the existing shares of the company. In addition it said three significant shareholders in Straight, who between them controlled 9.2 per cent of the company, had given their support to the offer.

Alan Walsh, the chief executive of One51, said: “The board of One51 Group looks forward to the integration of Straight within its existing plastics division. We aim to support Straight in its growth plans . . .”

James Newman, chairman of Straight, said: “We consider that the Offer represents an attractive premium to the average share price of Straight in the period prior to the announcement of a potential Offer.”

Straight reported an operating profit of £820,000 (€1 million) in 2013.

One51, headquartered in Dublin, reported an after-tax profit of €7.1 million for 2013, after a loss of €116.1 million in 2012. The company reduced its net debt by 54.6 per cent to €40.3 million.