The board of Menzies has agreed to recommend a £559m takeover by Kuwaiti rival group National Aviation Services (NAS).
The final proposal - at 608 pence per share - follows earlier approaches from NAS to the board regarding possible all cash offers for Menzies at 460 pence, 510 pence and 605 pence per Menzies share.
This potential deal nearly doubles recent market valuations for the Edinburgh-based aviation services firm.
A stock exchange statement confirmed that the board "would be willing unanimously to recommend" the latest offer, subject to the satisfactory resolution of all the other terms, including regulatory approvals and due diligence.
The courtship came to a head in the last fortnight, with the Menzies board initially turning down a "preliminary and unsolicited proposal" from NAS on 9 February to acquire the entire share capital of the company at a price of 510 pence per share in cash, or around £468m.
Further proposals followed, with this being the final offer from the business - which is part of the Agility Public Warehousing group - and operates at 55 airports through countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Founded in 1833 as a bookshop, John Menzies moved into news distribution, before finally transforming into an airport services firm through a series of acquisitions since the 1980s - and the sale of the distribution arm in 2018.
Today it handles cargo, planes on the ground and fuelling, and employs thousands of people in 37 different countries.
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