SIR Brian Stewart will effectively call time on Scottish & Newcastle's life as a public company today at an extraordinary meeting to vote on the group's takeover.
The brewer of Foster's and Newcastle Brown Ale dates back more than 250 years, but is set to fall under foreign ownership next month, after a consortium of Heineken and Carlsberg tabled a £7.8 billion bid, backed by S&N's board, in January.
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eholders were set to assemble at Edinburgh's Sheraton hotel at 11am today to vote on the scheme of arrangement – the formal bid document – providing a final chance to eyeball the board of directors. Unless the bid fails, it will be the last time the board formally meets its shareholders.
While S&N was last night insisting the meeting is a genuine platform for shareholders to raise any concerns and vote on the offer, institutional investors control the overwhelming bulk of votes, and are not expected to vote against the scheme.
As other equities drop, the price secured by the board is viewed as even more attractive than when it was announced.
S&N is privately pleased with the progress on securing jobs in Scotland under the ownership of Heineken, which will assume control of the UK business. While a cloud still hangs over the future of the group's corporate HQ in St Andrew Square in Edinburgh, its call centre in Livingston and the UK business headquarters at the Gyle are believed to be secure, providing security to more than 1,000 staff.
If the offer is approved, shares in S&N are expected to be removed from trading on the London Stock Exchange on 25 April, with a formal hand over three days later.
The full article contains 292 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
