14th Jan 2005 13:51
Close Brothers Group PLC14 January 2005 CLOSE BROTHERS GROUP PLC ("CLOSE BROTHERS") ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF THE COMMERCIAL ASSET FINANCE ACTIVITIES OF CATTLES PLC ("CATTLES ") Close Brothers announces that it has acquired Cattles Commercial Finance Limited("CCF"), the commercial asset finance subsidiary of Cattles. Based in Hull, CCF provides leasing and hire purchase facilities to fund theacquisition of commercial vehicles and engineering and manufacturing plant bysmall and medium sized companies situated throughout the UK. In the year ended31 December 2003 CCF made pre tax profits of £4.2 million and as at completionthe combined loan book totalled approximately £68 million. The purchase has been made by Close Brothers' banking subsidiary, Close BrothersLimited and the business will be incorporated into its existing asset financeactivities. The acquisition was funded from existing resources and the cashconsideration of £15.9 million reflects a premium of £2.2 million to the netassets acquired of approximately £13.7 million, subject to a completion audit.Additionally, Close Brothers has procured the repayment to Cattles of theinter-company funding of approximately £54 million. Cattles has committed tocover bad debts incurred on the loan book as at completion in excess of thedoubtful debt provisions held, up to a limit of £2.4 million. Commenting on the acquisition, Mr Hodges, Chairman of Close Brothers Limited,said "CCF is an excellent addition to our long established commercial assetfinance activities and builds upon our strong market position. We expect initialprofitability to be affected by our more stringent underwriting criteria and theadoption of our funding policies. Thereafter, we expect this business tocontinue to grow and generate a rate of return broadly in line with our existinglending businesses." Press enquiries: Close Brothers Limited: Stephen Hodges - 020 7426 4000 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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