Stobart agrees to buy remaining stake in Propius Holdings

The two parties are in the process of negotiating contracts and the deal is expected to complete this year.

The consideration will be funded by a sale of ordinary shares of 10p each to an institutional investor.

The group said it sold just over 10m Treasury shares or around 2.8% of the company’s existing issued share capital, at 155p per share, on Thursday. The sale raised £15.6m before expenses.

To the extent not applied as consideration for the remaining stake in Propius, proceeds will be used to fund a refinancing and for expenditure within Stobart's aviation portfolio.

For the year ended 31 December 2015, Propius made a pre-tax profit of $7.5m and has gross assets of $154.6m.

At 1512 GMT, Stobart shares were up 2.8% to 156.56p.