Busy wrapping up sales and acquisitions

Apr 9 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

IT HAS been an incredibly busy few months for the North East’s dealmakers as they raced to wrap up sales and acquisitions before the end of the tax year and the changes to the Capital Gains Tax regime.

The 2007/08 tax year officially ended at midnight on Saturday and a number of large deals were announced in the weeks leading up to the deadline.

In the region, they included:

:: Chester-le-Street based building services and supplies company Northern Bear bought forklift trucks business A1 Industrial Trucks and plumbing and heating firm DJ McGough for a combined price of £6.7m.

:: Anne Ganley bought out brother Albert Thompson’s 50% stake in the family’s £32m turnover Thompsons Building Centres, based in Sunderland.

:: Energy, waste and minerals company Hargreaves Services, of Esh Winning, acquired niche engineering maintenance business AJS Contracts in a £4.64m deal.

:: Software giant Sage, based in Newcastle, paid £21m for construction support firm the Tekton Group.

:: Tom and Jocelyn Maxfield sold Seaham Hall Hotel and The Samling, a hotel in the Lake District, for an undisclosed price tag.

:: The Lishman family sold Heighley Gate Garden Centre near Morpeth to Scottish company Wyevale for an undisclosed sum in February.

A number of big names also transferred shares to their partners or put them in trust to beat the changes. A loophole meant shareholders could pay tax on their assets at 10% if they triggered the gain before the deadline, but still have until January, 2010 to compete the deal.

Notable big business names reorganising their shareholdings included:

:: Lord Sainsbury transferred around £340m of his Sainsbury’s supermarket shares.

:: Sir Ken Morrison rearranged his £1bn stake in Morrison’s.

:: Brian Souter, chief executive of Stagecoach, reportedly transferred shares into a family trust.

:: Stock exchange chief executive Clara Furse is understood to have transferred shares to her partner.

:: Former Conservative Chancellor Ken Clarke, has reportedly taken similar action.