LONDON, UK: Judges Scientific, a group focused on acquiring and developing companies in the scientific instrument sector, has acquired the remaining minority interest in its majority owned subsidiary Bordeaux Acquisition Limited bringing the Group’s shareholding from 88% to 100%.
In 2011, Judges purchased Deben UK Limited through Bordeaux, a newly created buy-out vehicle; Bordeaux was owned by Judges (51%) and the Deben UK vendors (49%). In 2017, Bordeaux acquired Oxford Cryosystems Limited and Judges increased its stake to 75.5%; this was increased to 88% in February 2021.
Judges has now purchased the final 12% of Bordeaux’s issued share capital for a consideration of £2.1m, based on an enterprise value of £12.6m for 100% of Bordeaux plus excess cash. In 2021, Bordeaux generated £2.7m adjusted EBIT. £2m of the consideration will be settled through the issue of 29,197 new Judges ordinary shares (the “New Ordinary Shares”) issued at a price of £68.50 per share, equal to the mid-market price at close of business on Friday 24 June 2022, with the balance paid in cash. Application for admission of the new Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM has been made and dealing in the new Ordinary Shares is expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. on 30 June 2022. The new Ordinary Shares will rank pari-passu with the Company’s existing issued ordinary shares.
The Board of Judges expects the transaction to be immediately earnings enhancing for the Group.