WH Ireland agrees £16m Blue Oar tie-up

The ownership of stockbroker Blue Oar Securities finally looked settled today after rival WH Ireland agreed to pay £16.2 million to merge the two companies.

It marked the end of a tumultuous 12 months for Blue Oar, which saw its efforts to buy WH Ireland fail before becoming subject of a takeover battle itself.

Evolve, a consortium led by Blue Oar's former chairman Oliver Vaughan and its founder Edward Vandyk, known in the City as Dr Death, eventually took a 64.9% stake in Blue Oar around Christmas after a row with management.

It agreed today to the WH Ireland merger, which sees its stake in the enlarged firm - the biggest adviser to AIM-listed companies - reduced to 31.8%, making it the largest single shareholder.

The cash and share deal valued each Blue Oar share at 9.66p.