Logistics company TDG has promised it is "business as usual" for its employees despite a £203m takeover led by Isle of Man investment firm Laxey Partners.

Out of a Europe-wide workforce of 7000, the company has hundreds of employees in Scotland, in a variety of roles across its contract logistics and temperature-controlled services businesses.

Most notably, it handles distribution operations for Argos in Scotland and runs some of J Sainsbury's supply chain.

Laxey eventually won control of TDG with a 250p-a-share cash bid, lower than its initial offer of 275p a share in February. It benefited from the withdrawal last month of a rival bidder, British supply chain company Wincanton, which transports goods for Tesco.

TDG's property assets are particularly attractive to Laxey but LIT, the company formed by Laxey to undertake the bid, will also be used as the vehicle for private equity investments in other undervalued small and medium-sized companies.

As part of the arrangements, the new company will buy all the shares in the Laxey Investment Trust and will apply for a listing on the Alternative Investment Market in the autumn.

One of TDG's main operations is at Shotts, Lanarkshire, where it has a 34,000 sq ft packing and storage facility and handles goods including drinks, books, confectionery and toys and despatches them out along the M8 and M73 motorways.

It has a large presence at Mossend, also in Lanarkshire, where an upgraded rail freight terminal was opened four years ago.

Aberdeen and locations at Buckie, Glasgow and Glenrothes are the focus of its frozen goods delivery business.

Other sites include Milngavie and Edinburgh. Across Europe the company has 133 distribution sites.

LIT director Alex Palusco said: "The company has a strong customer base, which we value highly, and we will continue to support the company in expanding the range of services it provides.

"The company will also benefit from our real estate expertise in managing its property portfolio by pursuing selective redevelopment opportunities."

TDG chief executive David Garman said the announcement "promises to provide a good outcome for our customers, employees and other stakeholders in our business".

When asked about any future redundancies, a TDG spokesman said: "The key message is that it really is business as usual."

TDG reported a pre-tax profit of £15.8m on revenue of £669.5m in 2007 and announced that half-year trading to the end of June was ahead of expectations and the comparable period last year.

Douglas McNeill, an analyst at Blue Oar Securities, said that TDG suffered from being a small company despite having developed its position in niche areas such as packaging and chemicals.

"These niches are relatively high margin and TDG has done a good job of building up its profit.

"The risk, however, is that in the longer term the bigger players will also move into these areas and erode the margins."

He said that Laxey might try to follow other logistics companies in seeking to sell off sites.

But he added: "You have to wonder just how easy it would be to dispose of any surplus property in the current market."

Laxey is best known for its work as an arbitrageur, taking stakes in what it sees as undervalued or underperforming investment trusts and pressuring them into buying back shares at close to net asset value.

Among its previous targets have been Edinburgh Small Companies, run by Standard Life Investments, and Aberdeen Asset Management's Dunedin Smaller Companies trust.

It also has a strong position in real estate and has recently been making a splash by demanding the removal of property investor Ian Livingstone from the board of NR Nordic & Russia Properties and his replacement with one of its own nominees.

Laxey already controls 22% of TDG. The remaining shareholders can either take the 250p a share in cash or opt for 200p and 6.625 shares of LIT.