One of the most venerable names in the history books of corporate Scotland looked set to disappear after Christian Salvesen said it was being stalked by potential bidders.
The logistics business that can trace its roots to a shipping and whaling business based in the port of Leith said it was in talks with two unnamed bidders.
Salvesen said there was no certainty that the talks would result in a formal offer. However, with shares in the group soaring 25% following the announcement, investors clearly believed there was a good chance that Salvesen might succumb.
The firm has been headquartered in Northampton since 1997, when it competed a controversial demerger from the Aggreko generator hire business.
However, Salvesen remained registered in Scotland, where the outcome of negotiations will be studied closely by around 1500 staff of the group.
The base at Bellshill, Lanarkshire, where 800 staff service Wm Morrison, the Bradford-based retailer, is the biggest in the Salvesen empire.
The sale of Salvesen would probably sadden students of history for whom the Salvesen story provides a revealing insight into Scotland's commercial past.
Christian Salvesen was born in Norway in 1827 and moved to Leith, where he set up a trading station with a brother in the 1850s.
The brothers began a shipping business, transporting coal to Norway and returning with timber.
The family-owned firm was set up in 1872 and operated as a shipping agent, timber merchant and shipbroker. It branched into whaling in the early 1900s. With a fleet plying the South Atlantic, Salvesen ran the whaling station in South Georgia where the Argentinians began the Falklands War in 1982.
In addition to developing brickmaking, oil drilling and housebuilding activities, the company pioneered the freezing of fish - leading to the fish finger market - and peas.
After floating on the stock exchange in 1986 it slimmed down to focus on transport and logistics.
Robin Salvesen's retiral from the board at Christian Salvesen's annual meeting in Edinburgh in July 2002 ended 150 years of family involvement in decision-making. However, the Salvesens retained a significant stake.
In recent years, the firm has been grappling with the consequences of a shift from serving industrial clients to working with firms focused on consumer markets. Consolidation among sector rivals has increased the pressure.
In June, Salvesen said it would shake-up its loss-making UK transport division after underlying earnings before tax fell 18% to £12.5m in the year ended March 31.
However, the company might make a tempting target for a trade buyer capable of extracting synergies, or a financial buyer.
Douglas McNeill, analyst at Blue Oar Securities, said private equity houses could be interested. He said another possible buyer was Deutsche Post, the expanding German mail and logistics group which acquired Exel of the UK in September 2005.
In October 2004, Salvesen held merger talks with rival firm TDG.
Salvesen shares closed up 13.25p at 64.75p, valuing the company at £172m.
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