Court approves Yokogawa takeover of KBC Advanced Technology

English consulting and software firm KBC Advanced Technology was being gobbled up by Yokogawa Electric Corporation on Thursday, with confirmation the previously-announced takeover deal had been given the green light.

The boards of both AIM-traded KBC and Yokogawa Electric announced on 17 February they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-cash acquisition by Yokogawa of the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of KBC, through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement.

KBC’s board confirmed on Thursday that the court sanctioned the scheme on 5 April.

Both boards said the scheme was now effective, and holders of scheme shares were entitled to receive 210p in cash for each scheme share held.

Trading of KBC shares on AIM was temporarily suspended from 0730 BST on Wednesday, and it was expected that the cancellation of the shares on AIM would take effect at 0700 BST on Friday.

KBC Advanced Technologies, based in Walton-on-Thames, provides consulting and software services to the energy and process industries, while Yokogawa Electrical Engineering is a Tokyo-headquartered electrical engineering and software company.