Scotland’s largest shopping centre goes on market

The million-square-foot shopping centre is being offered for sale by administrators from Interpath Advisory.

The South Lanarkshire town centre site is vast (Image: Savills) Savills said the centre, which describes itself as “the largest undercover shopping and leisure destination in Scotland”, had been “stabilised” after going into administration in 2022. The centre includes the Plaza, Olympia, Princes Mall and Princes Square, and is home to a diverse mix of retail and leisure operators, anchored by major tenants such as Primark, JD Sports, and Odeon Luxe.

Read Ian McConnell’s story here

Historic golf hotel becomes ‘unofficial clubhouse’ for university students

An iconic St Andrews hotel is set to become the “unofficial clubhouse” for the town’s university golf programme.

Saints Golf performance scholars represent the university (Image: Contributed) Overlooking the 18th hole of the Old Course, Rusacks St Andrews has become an official partner of Saints Golf which hosts more than 350 members from the University of St Andrews. From this academic year the hotel will provide a place for members to gather, and a venue to host visiting teams and events.

Saints Golf provides opportunities for beginners with its partners the St Andrews Links Trust up through to support for elite golfers. The programme’s golf scholarships give players the support needed to elevate their game while pursuing academic studies.

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Family sells historic Scottish firm linked to famous lighthouse and Washington DC 

A Scottish family-owned company with links to the construction of Capitol Hill in Washington DC in 1825 has been sold to its workers.

The Bell Rock lighthouse, off Angus (Image: API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) The family has connections with historic buildings around the world including one of the world’s most famous lighthouses.

Robert P Slight & Sons Limited, based in Wallyford, has been sold to an employee ownership trust, which will hold the shares on behalf of the company’s 40 staff. The company has been trading since 1948 and until the sale was owned by Douglas Slight, the third generation of the Slight family to run the business.

Read Brian Donnelly’s story here

Indian giant acquires Motherwell firm in £42m deal

Ascensos, the Motherwell-based customer service specialist, has been acquired by an Indian business processing giant in a deal which values the company at £42 million.

John Devlin (Image: Chris Watt Photography) The Scottish firm, which has clients such as Aldi, John Lewis, and Wickes, has been taken over by Mumbai-based Firstsource, part of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, nine years after it was established by John Devlin, Dermot Jenkinson and Katrine Young in 2015. The trio built up and sold their former beCogent call centre firm to Teleperformance of France for £35 million in 2010.

Read Scott Wright’s story here

Ascensos employs 3,000 people with offices in the UK, Romania, Turkey, Trinidad and South Africa, and turned over £64.1 million in 2023.

A statement said Mr Devlin will continue to lead Ascensos as a separate business unit within Firstsource, retaining its brand and Scottish headquarters in Motherwell “while using the combined company’s technological capabilities and expert employees to serve the retail industry better”.