Miller Group: Bank of Scotland takes a share in the business

The Bank of Scotland has taken a minority equity investment in Miller Group in what the company describes as “the most significant financial transaction in the group’s history”.

The £1.2bn-a-year turnover Scottish company was thrown a live grenade last November when rebellious members of the Miller family formed the Aligned Shareholder Group (ASG) and announced that they had been involved in behind-the-scenes discussions with a handful of potential buyers.

Talks involved both trade rivals and financial buyers. The total was put at a figure of less than 10.

However the explosive situation was defused and rebels, led by former chairman James Miller, reported that they had buried the hatchet.

The issue was thought to have been that Miller family members who wanted to cash their chips in believed the internal share mechanism undervalued their holdings.

However, they were said to have been told by Ernst & Young that its calculation of the value of Miller’s shares was no different from the one already on offer internally.

The value of Miller’s internal shares have risen in line with its financial fortunes. Since Keith Miller took the helm he has transformed the group into a market leader, with results showing 13 years of profitable growth.

There are no details of what the Bank of Scotland has paid for the equity stake, nor the size of the holding it has taken.