Car manual firm Haynes is bought for for £114.5m by French rival 

Car manual firm Haynes is bought for £114.5m by French rival Infopro Digital

Haynes Publishing is to be bought by a French rival for £114.5million.

The company, best known for producing car manuals in the days before the internet, put itself up for sale three months ago.

It said media, information and service company Infopro Digital had agreed to pay 700p per share – 62 per cent more than Haynes’ closing share price on Wednesday.

Haynes publishing is to be bought by  French rival Infopro Digital for £114.5m. Founder John Haynes (pictured) published his first motoring manual in 1966

In response, shares rocketed by 61.3 per cent yesterday to hover close to the offer price. The takeover means Haynes will fall into foreign ownership for the first time in its 60-year history.

The deal must still be voted through by shareholders but has been recommended by the boards of both companies.

Haynes was founded by John Haynes, who published his first motoring manual in 1966.

The books became known for their accessibility and ‘exploding’ diagrams which showed cross sections of vehicles and machinery, with the company even publishing special editions covering Nasa’s Skylab space station and fictional spaceships from Star Wars.

The business put itself up for sale just eight months after Mr Haynes’s death in February last year.

 

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