Comment / Analysis: how likely is a leveraged buyout of John Menzies?

I had a quick exchange recently with a gentleman from the asset management industry who wondered why private equity hadn’t “stumbled upon John Menzies” after we witnessed some significant M&A activity earlier this summer, which culminated with the takeover of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) by financial sponsor Cerberus.

I countered that, albeit not very cheap, the UK-based cargo handler was a palatable target. Private equity, I added, would likely struggle to lever it up significantly due to its existing capital structure ...