4th Oct 2006 12:01
Henderson Group plc04 October 2006 Court approves Return of Cash transaction4 October 2006 As previously announced, Henderson Group (the Group) plans to returnapproximately £200 million surplus cash to shareholders. The Return of Cashtransaction was approved by shareholders at an Extraordinary General Meetingheld on 31 August 2006. The Group today received UK Court approval for the cancellation of shares andreduction of share premium account under the Return of Cash transaction. Theshare cancellation is expected to take effect on the Record Date (13 October2006) and 254,208,108 of the total 1,155,491,400 ordinary shares in issue willbe cancelled. The Group's authorised share capital will be reduced from£269,159,657.90 divided into 2,691,596,579 ordinary shares of 10 pence each to£243,738,847.10 divided into 2,437,388,471 ordinary shares of 10 pence each, ofwhich 901,283,292 ordinary shares will be in issue. The number of ordinaryshares of 10 pence each held by the Company as treasury shares is currently3,041,537 and will be 2,372,399 immediately after the cancellation takes effect. Under the Return of Cash transaction all shareholders will have 22 per cent oftheir shares held on the Record Date cancelled and in return receive a cashpayment of 78 pence* per ordinary share cancelled. The Group will also be paying a dividend in respect of the six months ended 30June 2006 of 0.88 pence* per ordinary share. The dividend will be paid on sharesheld on the Record Date before any cancellation of shares associated with theReturn of Cash. The dividend will be paid together with the Return of Cash. *For holders of CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs), the A$ or the NZ$ equivalentwill be confirmed on the Record Date. Henderson Group plc4 BroadgateLondon EC2M 2DARegistered in EnglandNo. 2072534ABN 30 106 988 836 Notes to editors: • In this announcement, the term "shareholders" refers to all holders of Henderson Group plc shares - including those whose holdings are in the form of CHESS Depositary Interests (CDIs) on the Australian Stock Exchange. • All words and expressions used in the Circular have, unless the context requires otherwise, the same meaning in this announcement. • The Circular is available today electronically from the Henderson Group website www.henderson.com. In connection with the Return of Cash, 91 new ordinary shares of 10 pence eachranking pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares in issuewere allotted and issued on 2 October 2006 to Computershare Clearing Pty Limitedat the then current market price on the London Stock Exchange. Application wasmade to the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock Exchange for the newshares to be admitted to the Official List and to trade on the London StockExchange. The timetable is as follows: Last date for processing requests by CDI holders to convertCDIs into ordinary shares or by ordinary shareholdersto convert ordinary shares into CDIs before the payment ofdividend and Return of Cash 6 October CDIs commence trading on the ASX on an ex-dividend andex-Return of Cash/deferred settlement basis under stock codeHGIDB 9 October Ordinary shares commence trading on the LSE on an ex-dividend basis 11 October Record Date for dividend and Return of Cash, share cancellationtakes effect 13 October CREST accounts adjusted to reflect remaining ordinary shares 16 October Ordinary shares commence trading on the LSE on an ex-Returnof Cash basis 16 October Processing recommences for requests by CDI holders to convertCDIs into ordinary shares and by ordinary shareholders to convertordinary shares into CDIs 16 October Dividend and Return of Cash payments 24 October Recommencement of normal trading of CDIs on the ASX understock code HGI 25 October Dates and times for the Return of Cash are indicative only. If any of the datesand times should change, the revised dates and/or times will be notified toHenderson Group shareholders through the London and Australian Stock exchangesand will be available at www.henderson.com. For further information:www.henderson.com or Investor enquiriesMav WynnHenderson Group Head of Investor Relations +44 20 7818 [email protected] Media enquiriesUnited Kingdom - FinsburyAndrew Mitchell +44 20 7251 3801Australia - CanningsGloria Barton +61 2 9252 0622 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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