Northern security firm takeover dropped after probe
A planned £25m (€37m) takeover of a security firm in the North at the centre of a hospitality corruption investigation has been scrapped, it was revealed tonight.
UK giant Mitie pulled out of the deal to buy Maybin Support Services after police launched an investigation into the company’s affairs.
Detectives are probing the circumstances surrounding two senior Northern Ireland Court Service officials’ holiday to Copenhagen on board a yacht owned by managing director Richard Maybin.
He has a £4.9m (€7.2m) contract with the Court Service which is due to run out next year.
It has also emerged that Auditor General John Dowdall’s office is waiting for the outcome of an independent inquiry by a retired senior civil servant before deciding whether to take further action.
With more than 3,000 staff on its books, Maybin is listed among the North's top 100 companies.
Apart from providing security to clients including the Northern Bank, the firm is best known for its dominance of the commercial cleaning sector.
Its sale to the Mitie Group, which cleans hospitals, airports and bus shelters, provides catering for the British Ministry of Defence, and security at the Tower of London, is understood to have been agreed earlier this year.
But the deal, which was to be finalised next month, hit the rocks after Maybin attracted unwanted publicity.
Mr Maybin and his advisers still hope the sale will be resurrected once the police probe is completed.
A spokesman, who insisted the company was fully co-operating with the investigation, refused to comment on the buy-out.
But insiders at Maybin revealed staff were told the takeover was off after police raided their headquarters in Ballymena, Co Antrim.
Computers and files were seized during the searches last week.
Maybin has already withdrawn from its bid to win a £5m (€7.4m) contract to clean all Northern Ireland police stations.
Detectives were called in last month to investigate the circumstances of the Copenhagen trip the Court Service’s head of procurement services Brian Lowry and head of court operations George Keatley took with Mr Maybin.
Both men have been suspended while the police probe is carried out.
The Court Service stressed that no contractual negotiations with the firm, which provides security at its buildings rather than for prisoner transfers as previously reported, are currently underway.
A spokesman for Mitie confirmed the company was aware of press reports surrounding Maybin, but would not comment on any planned purchase.
He said: “Mitie and its corporate development team look at lots of companies and have discussions with a great number of them. These are commercially sensitive and are subject to restrictions on what we can and cannot say.”
