Executives at British aviation services company John Menzies have accepted a £571 million (US$741 million) takeover bid from Kuwaiti rival National Aviation Services (NAS), owned by infrastructure and logistics giant Agility.

Analysts say the Menzies and NAS merger would create the world’s largest airport services firm, according to the number of countries it operates in.

Menzies, which offers services ranging from cargo and baggage-handling to passenger check-in and plane de-icing and refuelling, will be combined with National Aviation Services, which counts British Airways, Air France, KLM, Emirates and Qatar Airways amongst its airline customers.

The Kuwait-based company had earlier secured 19 percent stake in its British rival, after the latter rebuffed three previous offers. At 608 pence a share, Philipp Joeinig, chairman and chief executive at John Menzies, said that ‘directors believe the offer represents a fair and recommendable price for shareholders which recognises Menzies’ future prospects’.

The combined revenues of Menzies and NAS were in excess of US$1.5 billion in 2021. The merged group is estimated to count around 35,000 employees at more than 250 airports in 57 countries, handling more than 600,000 aircraft turns per year.