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Market Tracker weekly round-up - 23 March 2018

Weekly round-up of the latest corporate announcements, including a recommended all-cash offer for Fener plc by Michelin, a possible offer by Klepierre S.A. for Hammerson plc and a possible offer for Vipera plc by Banca Sella Holding S.p.A., a capital reorganisation undertaken by Stratex International plc, secondary offers by Convivality plc, Burford Capital Limited, Fevertree Drinks Plc, and Serabi Gold Plc, a delisting by Gulfsands Petroleum plc, returns of value by Ferrexpo plc, Kingfisher plc and ZPG plc, and related party transactions by BioPharma Credit plc and Serabi Gold plc. 28 companies announced the date of their 2018 AGM.

The daily round-up covers all deals announced until 12 noon on the date of the daily round-up from 12 noon on the previous business day. Any deals announced after this time frame will be included in the following daily round-up.

The information contained in the daily round up is transferred to the weekly round up on a Friday. All announcement data is republished in the monthly round up at the end of the month. To access previous announcements please visit the Market Tracker section or the News tab on the Corporate homepage.

New deals announced:

AGMs

Announcement date Issuer Industry sector Key information
23 March 2018 Aggreko plc Professional services Aggreko has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 26 April 2018.
23 March 2018 Intermediate Capital Group plc Financial services Intermediate Capital Group has announcedthat its 2018 AGM will be held on 26 July 2018.
22 March 2018 Admiral Group plc Professional services Admiral Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 26 April 2018.
22 March 2018 Indivior plc Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology Indivior has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 16 May 2018.
22 March 2018 Metro Bank plc Banking & finance Metro Bank has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 April 2018.
22 March 2018 Next plc Retail & wholesale trade Next has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 17 May 2018.
22 March 2018 Shire plc Pharmaceuticals & biotechnology Shire has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 April 2018.
22 March 2018 Smurfit Kappa Group plc Engineering & manufacturing Smurfit Kappa Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 4 May 2018.
22 March 2018 Ted Baker plc Retail & wholesale trade Ted Baker has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 12 June 2018.
22 March 2018 Travis Perkins plc Professional services Travis Perkins has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 27 April 2018.
21 March 2018 Elementis plc Chemicals Elementis has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 26 April 2018.
21 March 2018 Howden Joinery Group plc Engineering & manufacturing Howden Joinery Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 2 May 2018.
21 March 2018 RSA Insurance Group plc Financial services RSA Insurance Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 11 May 2018.
20 March 2018 Alfa Financial Software Holdings plc Computing & IT Alfa Financial Software Holdings has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 April 2018.
20 March 2018 Ferrexpo plc Mining, metals & extraction Ferrexpo has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 25 May 2018.
20 March 2018 ITV plc Media & telecommunications ITV has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 10 May 2018.
20 March 2018 Lloyds Banking Group plc Banking & finance Lloyds Banking Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 May 2018.
20 March 2018 London Stock Exchange Group plc Financial services London Stock Exchange Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 April 2018.
20 March 2018 RHI Magnesita N.V. Engineering & manufacturing RHI Magnesita has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 7 June 2018.
20 March 2018 Unilever plc Consumer products Unilever has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 2 May 2018.
20 March 2018 Polypipe Group plc Construction Polypipe Group has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 23 May 2018.
20 March 2018 TI Fluid Systems plc Automotive TI Fluid Systems has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 17 May 2018.
20 March 2018 Wood Group (John) plc Oil & gas Wood Group (John) has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 11 May 2018.
19 March 2018 ACACIA Mining plc Mining, metals & extraction ACACIA Mining has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 19 April 2018.
19 March 2018 Croda International plc Chemicals Croda International has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 25 April 2018.
19 March 2018 Intu Properties plc Investment Intu Properties has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 25 April 2018.
19 March 2018 Persimmon plc Construction Persimmon has announced that its 2018 AGM will be held on 25 April 2018.
19 March 2018 Learning Technologies Group plc Professional services Learning Technologies Group has announcedthat its 2018 AGM will be held on 24 May 2018.

Delistings

Announcement date Company Industry sector Key information
21 March 2018 Gulfsands Petroleum plc Oil & gas Gulfsands has announced its intention to seek Shareholder approval for the cancellation of admission to trading on AIM.
The Board considers that the Company no longer reaps the expected benefits of the listing as it no longer provides the Company with any significant access to funding from the broader capital markets, nor does it provide any significant liquidity to shareholders.
The Company will be today posting to Shareholders a circular including a notice of a General Meeting to be held at 11a.m. (London time) on 10 April 2018 to propose a resolution to approve the Delisting. The preferred date of cancellation of the admission of the Company's Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM is 23 April 2018.

LR/AIM Rules transactions

Announcement date Company Industry sector Key information
23 March 2018 Serabi Gold plc Mining, metals & extraction Serabi Gold has announced a related party transaction under the AIM Rules.
16 March 2018 BioPharma Credit plc Investment BioPharma Credit has announced a related party transaction under the Listing Rules.

Reorganisations

Announcement date Company Industry sector Key information
16 March 2018 Stratex International plc Mining, metals & extraction Stratex International plc has announced its intention to carry out a a capital reorganisation.
Shareholders will be asked at the annual general meeting to approve a sub-division of the company’s existing ordinary shares which will have the effect of reducing the nominal value of the issued and unissued ordinary share capital of the company.
The capital reorganisation involves subdividing each issued existing ordinary share of 1 pence each into one new ordinary share of 0.1 pence each and one deferred share of 0.9 pence each. Immediately thereafter, each existing shareholder will hold 1 new ordinary share and 1 deferred shares in place of each existing ordinary share.

Returns of value to shareholders

Announcement date Company Industry sector Key information
23 March 2018 Next plc Retail & wholesale trade Next plc has announced its intention to return £275 million to shareholders through share buybacks during 2018, subject to market conditions.
During February 2018, before the start of the closed period, Next plc purchased 1.4 million shares for cancellation at an average price of £49.23 and total cost of £69.1 million.  This leaves a balance remaining of £206 million to return to shareholders during 2018/19.
21 March 2018 Ferrexpo plc Mining, metals & extraction Ferrexpo plc has announced a special dividend for the year of 5 pence (6.6 US cents). The special dividend will be paid on 16 April 2018 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 1 June 2018.
The dividend will be paid in UK Pounds Sterling with an election to receive US Dollars.
21 March 2018 Kingfisher plc Retail & wholesale trade Kingfisher plc has announced the commencement of an irrevocable no-discretionary programme to purchase its shares for cancellation, during the period which commences on 21 March 2018 and ends no later than 18 May 2018.
The maximum amount allocated to the programme will be no greater than £40,000,000. The purpose of the programme is to reduce the share capital of the company.
20 March 2018 ZPG plc Telecommunications & media ZPG plc has announced the commencement of a share buyback programme to repurchase 590,000 ordinary shares of 0.001 pence each to satisfy the exercise of warrants.
The purchase of the ordinary shares will commence immediately and end no later than 23 May 2018.

Secondary offers

Announcement date Issuer Industry sector Key information
23 March 2018 Fevertree Drinks Plc Financial Services Fevertree Drinks Plc has announced the sale of 1,500,000 ordinary shares in the Company via an accelerated bookbuild placing to institutional investors. In addition, as a result of significant demand, the Selling Shareholder has sold 3,000,000 ordinary shares in the Company, representing approximately 2.6% of the Company’s issued shared capital.
23 March 2018 Serabi Gold Plc Financial Services Serabi Gold Plc has announced the investment of US$15.0 million by Greenstone Resources II LLP to acquire a 29.82% interest in Serabi via the subscription of 297,759,419 new ordinary shares of 0.5 pence each.
22 March 2018 Convivality plc Financial Services Convivality announced an equity placing to raise gross proceeds of £125.0 million, which the Directors believe will enable the company to recapitalise the business. If the Placing proves successful, the Directors intend to make an open offer of up to the pound sterling equivalent of €5.0 million. Both the Placing and the Open Offer are subject to the approval of Conviviality shareholders at the Company’s next general meeting.
21 March 2018 Burford Capital Limited Financial Services Burford Capital Limited announced the secondary placing of 8,680,000 shares by Christopher Bogart and Jonathan Molot, at a pice of 1350 pence per share. The Placing Shares represent in aggregate approximately 4.2% of the Company’s issued share capital. The Placing was conducted through an accelerated bookbuild, with Numis Securities Limited and Joh.Berenberg, Gossler & Co.KG, London Branch acting as joint bookrunners for the Seller.

Takeovers

Announcement date Issuer Industry sector Key information
22 March 2018 Vipera plc possible offer by Banca Sella Holding S.p.A. Financial Services Vipera announced a possible offer by Banca Sella Holding S.p.A. through its wholly owned subdidiary Sella Open Fintech Platform S.p.A..
The possible offer, if made, would be for cash consideration at a price of 7.5p per Vipera ordinary share.  This values Vipera at £24.03.
The PUSU deadline is 19 April 2018.
It is proposed that subject to certain approvals, certain members of Vipera's management team would exchange all or part of their holdings of Vipera Shares for shares in Sella Open Fintech Platform S.p.A..
19 March 2018 Fenner plc offer by Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA Engineering & manufacturing Michelin has announced a recommended all cash offer for Fenner plc.
The offer value is £1.2 billion, each Fenner shareholder will receive 610 pence per their share.
Fenner shareholders will be entitled to receive and retain a proposed interim dividend of no more than 2.1 pence per Fenner Share to be declared on or around 25 April 2018.
19 March 2018 Hammerson plc possible offer by Klepierre S.A. Investment Klepierre has announced a possible offer for Hammerson plc.
Hammerson’s board has unanimously rejected the possible offer stating that the offer of 615 pence per share undervalues Hammerson and the possible offer is opportunistic.
The offer comprised of 50% shares and 50% cash of Klepierre.
Filed Under: Corporate Law , Round-ups

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