Shearwater Regulatory News (SWG)

24 Jul 2008 07:00



24 July 2008

Scott Wilson Group plc

Acquisition of Benaim

Scott Wilson Group plc, the international design and engineering consultancy, today announces that it has acquired the entire share capital of Benaim Enterprise (Holdings) Limited, a company registered in Mauritius under company number IC00006461 and is the holding company of the Benaim UK and Hong Kong operating subsidiaries. Benaim is a civil, structural and geotechnical consultancy specialising in the design of high quality structures for the public and private sector. The maximum consideration for the acquisition is £5.5 million and comprises in aggregate:

initial cash consideration of £2.915 million payable on completion;

loan notes to the value of £1.65 million, to be converted into ordinary shares in Scott Wilson Group plc 18 months after the date of acquisition, the conversion price to be the average of the closing market share price over a 10 day period prior to issuing the shares, and

deferred consideration of £0.935 million (subject to downward adjustment) dependent upon a valuation of the assets and liabilities of Benaim.

Benaim was founded in 1980 and has operations in London and Bath in the UK and in Hong Kong. In the year ended 30 September 2007, Benaim had consolidated revenues of £5.56 million and profit before taxation of £1.1 million.

Scott Wilson and Benaim have collaborated extensively together on projects such as the East London Line and Malaysia's KLIA Express Rail Link. Significant recent Benaim projects include Dubai Metro Stations and Viaducts, Hong Kong's Nam Cheong MTR Station, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Project, Macau's Venetian Casino, and Kincardine Bridge in Scotland.

Geoff French, Executive Chairman, comments

"We are delighted that Benaim with their considerable reputation internationally and in the metro sector are joining Scott Wilson.

This acquisition, together with the recently announced Terence Lee Partnership, is part of our strategy to significantly enhance our capability in the metro sector. In addition to their strong geotechnical and civil skills, and the benefits these bring for the metro market, Benaim also bring considerable expertise in major bridges for both road and rail, which will further strengthen our strong presence in these sectors.

These acquisitions together complement our strong organic growth and the businesses both expand our geographic capability and accelerate the growth of our core sector expertise."

~Ends~

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Scott Wilson Group plc, with over 6,000 members of staff, is a multi-disciplinary international design and engineering consultancy for the built and natural environments.

The Group has doubled in size over the past few years and from its UK headquarters currently controls a worldwide network of 80 offices, of which 40 are in the UK. The main international centres are located in China, Hong Kong, India, SE Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southern Africa.

www.scottwilson.com