Calyx shareholders approve €103.7m MBO


3 Jul 2007

Calyx shareholders have voted in favour of Maurice Healy and his management team leading a management buyout with the backing of Alchemy Partners.

The value of the management buyout (MBO) is set at around €103.7m. Healy owns 28pc of the company comprising 19.3m shares.

In the MBO, he will swap 13.5m shares in Calyx for a stake in his investment vehicle Stornoway, which includes other members of the Calyx management team.

When the MBO is concluded, Healy will hold 30.9pc of Stornoway, Alchemy Investment plan will hold 59.2pc and the remainder will be held by Calyx management.

This isn’t Healy’s first MBO. Calyx was born in 2001 when Healy led an MBO to split Calyx out of Alphyra, a company he started in 1989 with John Nagle.

In recent years Calyx has embarked on a relentless acquisition strategy, acquiring Entropy for €4m, the UK Matrix Group for €60m and recently Mentec for €16m.

Under the terms of the acquisition of Calyx by Stornaway, each holder of cancellation shares will receive 101 pence in cash per cancellation share, representing a premium of 23.9pc to the closing price of 81.5 pence per Calyx share on 12 March last.

Bu John Kennedy