THE family of JAMES IRLAM will share nearly £60million after selling the haulier he founded and gave his name to.

Larger rival STOBART GROUP is buying the Macclesfield-based business, which employs 600 people.

Proceeds from the £59.9million deal will go to Mr Irlam’s three grandsons, managing director David — who joins the Stobart board — Stewart and Michael.

James Irlam started out as a market gardener with a horse and cart in 1949 at Ringway, Manchester.

His son, also James, relocated the company to Cheshire when Manchester Airport was built and expanded in 1964 by transporting milk churns to the city’s dairies and returning with corn supplies for local farms.

The firm moved into haulage in 1980 and now has 350 trucks and 700 trailers. David Irlam said his father, who died six weeks ago aged 73, would have approved.

He told Sun City: “We see this as an opportunity to grow both companies.”

Stobart chief executive Andrew Tinkler said the pair — which share customers like COCA-COLA and JOHNSON & JOHNSON — planned to cut duplication and save wasted journeys. He added: “There will be no redundancies. We see this as an opportunity to create jobs.”

Stobart is also buying transport infrastructure engineering specialist WA DEVELOPMENTS, owned by Mr Tinkler and Stobart operations chief William Stobart, for £10million.

It has also taken an option to buy Carlisle Airport from the duo for up to £15million.

Mr Tinkler said that, with planning approval, Stobart would build a new logistics centre at the airport — potentially taking the firm into air freight.

Stobart is tapping investors for £75million to pay for the deals by issuing new shares at 130p each. Shares rose a penny to 136p last night.

John Lawson, of broker Investec, said: “James Irlam is a highly-regarded logistics business and its acquisition, in our view, looks a very sensible deal.”

Source The Sun