Duple takeover expected
Page 74

If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The acquisition of Duple Motor Bodies Ltd by the private investment company Capitarium Ltd (CM August 21) is now almost a certainty. Robert Fleming and Co Ltd, the merchant bankers called in by Duple to advise on future action, recommended ordinary shareholders to accept Capitarium's offer of 5s 3d for each ordinary share. Mr George Hughes, formerly with International Business Machines Ltd, told CM on Tuesday that over 70 per cent of the shareholders had sold out.
Mr Frank B. Ford (ex Plaxtons) and Mr Hughes now seek nomination to the parent board of Duple Motor Bodies Ltd. Mr J. 0.
R. Darby is expected to remain chairman.
It is the intention of Capitarium to continue to operate the company as at present, with two subsidiary companies —Duple Coachbuilders Ltd. Blackpool, and Willowbrook Ltd, Loughborough—building luxury coach and stage bus bodies respectively, and to turn the companies into a profit-making exercise.
Meanwhile, Duple Motor Bodies Ltd has announced that the sales company, Duple Group Sales Ltd, is to be closed down in the near future. In its place separate sales departments will be established at the coach and bus building factories.