3rd Jun 2005 08:01
Advent Capital (Holdings) PLC03 June 2005 Advent Capital (Holdings) PLC ("Advent" or the "Company") Capital Raising and Listing on AIM Advent Capital (Holdings) PLC announces that its shares today commenced tradingon AIM following a successful capital raising, giving Advent a marketcapitalisation of £77 million. Highlights: • Advent raised a total of £65 million - £40 million by way of equityfully underwritten by Numis Securities and £25 million through a debt issue • The equity raised, which attracted capital from the UK, US and Canada(reflecting the Company's international business), was fully supported by theFairfax Group, the Company's major shareholder - and by the staff of the Group • This new capital will be used to provide permanent support for theunderwriting on Syndicate 780 for 2006 and onwards • Advent manages and participates on Syndicate 780 through AdventUnderwriting Limited (a Lloyd's managing agency) and Advent Capital Limited (acorporate member of Lloyd's) • Advent Underwriting Limited, which was formed in 1975, has operated inthe Lloyd's market for thirty years • Syndicate 780 is predominantly focused on short tail propertyreinsurance and insurance and for the 2005 year of account has capacity of £153million of which 53% is owned by Advent (£82 million) • Syndicate 780 has outperformed the Lloyd's market in 27 of the last 29closed years of account returning an average profit of 18.5% compared with theLloyd's average of 1.3%. • Syndicate 780 reported a profit of £50m for the 2002 year of accountand forecasts a profit of £68m for the 2003 year of account • Advent's management is led by Brian Caudle (Executive Chairman andDirector of Underwriting) and Keith Thompson (Chief Operating Officer) Brian Caudle, Executive Chairman, commented: "We are delighted that we have been successful in raising new capital andtaking the Company onto the public market place. This signals a new and excitingchapter in the history of Advent and provides the permanent capital to take thebusiness forward into 2006 and beyond which we know our loyal supporters in theinsurance market and our rating agencies are looking for from us On behalf of the Board I would like to thank the Executive team, our staff andour advisers for all the hard work they have put in to make this important stepfor the Group a success in what we know were difficult market conditions forraising capital. We are proud to have been able to buck the trend" 3 June 2005 Enquiries Advent Capital HoldingsKeith Thompson Chief Operating Officer Tel: 020 7743 8200 Numis SecuritiesSimon Law Director Tel: 020 7776 1500 Pelham Public RelationsJames Henderson Tel: 020 7743 6670Kelly Frost Editors Notes: At the placing price of 35p, the Company will be capitalised at approximately£77 million. The Placing raised approximately £40 million (before expenses) forthe Company through the issue of 114,285,714 new Ordinary Shares at 35 pence pershare. Numis Securities is acting as Nominated Adviser and Broker to theCompany. Placing Statistics Placing Price 35p Number of Existing Ordinary Shares in issue prior to the Placing 105,323,057 Number of Placing Shares being issued 114,285,714 Number of Ordinary Shares in issue following the Placing 219,608,771 Estimated net proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company £37.6m Percentage of the enlarged issued Ordinary Share capital available in the Placing 52% Market capitalisation at the Placing Price £77m Key Strengths • a recognised position as a leader of reinsurance risks,enabling the Group to set the terms upon which it will conduct business. • a resilient business model backed by strong Syndicateliquidity with no Syndicate bank borrowings. • an experienced management and underwriting team. TheGroup's Active Underwriter and four heads of underwriting each have considerableexperience in the Lloyd's market. • active management of insurance cycles, controllingcapacity and utilisation levels so as to underwrite in the pursuit of profitrather than for income or market share. • maintaining close control over underwriting decisions withless than 10 per cent of business being written by agents allowing the Group tomanage the exposure of the Syndicate more effectively. Executive Directors Brian Caudle: Executive Chairman (aged 69) Mr Caudle is the founder of Advent Underwriting Limited (AUL) and is co-founderof Advent and Advent Capital Limited (ACL). He has over 50 years' experience inthe Lloyd's Market and was the Active Underwriter of Syndicate 780 from 1974 to1999. Mr Caudle is the Executive Chairman of the Advent Group and Director ofUnderwriting of AUL. Keith Thompson: Chief Operating Officer (aged 47) Mr Thompson is co-founder of Advent and ACL. He has 29 years' experience in theLloyd's Market. He began his career with the Corporation of Lloyd's in 1976.From 1983 to 1994 he held senior positions and directorships of a number ofLloyd's members agents before joining AUL in July 1994. In 1995 he was appointedManaging Director of AUL. Clifford Murphy: Group Finance Director (aged 46) Mr Murphy has been with the Advent Group since 2001 and was previously adirector of Hampden Underwriting Services Limited (now known as Axiom ConsultingLimited). Prior to Axiom, Mr Murphy was an audit manager with Neville RussellChartered Accountants (now known as Mazars), having qualified as a CharteredAccountant in 1983. Mr Murphy was admitted as an Associate of the CharteredInsurance Institute in 1992. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
ADV.L