1st Apr 2008 07:40
W.H. Ireland Group PLC01 April 2008 WH Ireland Group plc Significant shareholdings, Director dealings and Directorate changes WH Ireland Group plc ("WH Ireland" or the "Company"), the diversified financialservices group with activities in stockbroking and investment management,corporate finance and independent financial advice, announces that a consortiumled by Lord Marland, Rupert Lowe, David Ross and Andrew Scott (the "Consortium")has acquired 1,710,000 ordinary shares of 5p each in the Company ("OrdinaryShares") at a price of 100p per share, representing 9.94 per cent. of the issuedordinary share capital of the Company. These Ordinary Shares have been acquiredfrom certain Directors of the Company as follows: Ordinary SharesSir David Trippier Non-executive Chairman 240,000John Lawrence Non-executive Director 153,989Laurie Beevers Chief Executive 438,670David Youngman Managing Director 877,341Total 1,710,000 The following members of the Consortium have undertaken the share purchases setout below: Ordinary Shares % Issued share capitalLord Marland 550,000 3.20%Rupert Lowe 330,000 1.92%David Ross 550,000 3.20%Andrew Scott 280,000 1.62%Total 1,710,000 9.94% In addition, the Company announces that an agreement has been entered intowhereby, subject to receipt of appropriate FSA approvals before 5pm on 30th June2008, the Consortium will purchase, or procure purchasers for a further minimum1,070,000 existing Ordinary Shares at a price of 100p per share, including afurther 372,872 Ordinary Shares from Laurie Beevers, David Youngman and theirAssociates. This is contingent on the successful procurement of sellers of suchexisting Ordinary Shares at a price of 100p per share. Subject to and conditional upon this sale and purchase, WH Ireland will issuenew Ordinary Shares at 100p per share such that the Consortium, or personsprocured by it, will acquire a total of 5,080,000 Ordinary Shares (the "Agreement"). The Agreement, if completed in full, will result in the Consortiumand persons procured by it having a minimum shareholding of 26.05% of theenlarged issued share capital of the Company. Following the purchase of Ordinary Shares under the Agreement, the totalshareholding of existing Directors and the Employee Benefit Trust will amount to3,327,010 Ordinary Shares representing a minimum total shareholding of 19.34%,plus 2,145,241 share options currently held by existing Directors and employees. Directorate changes With effect from 21 April 2008, Sir David Trippier, Non-executive Chairman, andJohn Lawrence, a Non-executive Director, will retire from the Board. TheCompany would like to thank both Sir David and John for their services to WHIreland over a substantial number of years. As a condition of the acquisition of a 9.94% shareholding in the Company by theConsortium and subject to FSA approval, Lord Marland will be appointed as aNon-executive Director and Rupert Lowe will be appointed as a Non-executiveDirector and Chairman of the Company with effect from 21 April 2008. Lord Jonathan Marland A founding Board member of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Plc, Lord Marland is Chairmanof Herriot Limited and Janspeed Limited, and a Non-Executive Director of HunterBoot Limited, Jubilee Insurance Limited, Insurance Capital Partners Limited andClareville Capital Partners LLP. Rupert Lowe Mr Lowe was previously a Director of LIFFE (the London International FinancialFutures Exchange) and Chairman of Southampton Leisure Holdings Plc. Mr Lowe iscurrently a Director of Lowe & Oliver Limited and Jubilee Insurance Limited. MrLowe has gained significant financial services experience with Phillips and Drew(now part of UBS), Deutsche Bank, Barings and Morgan Grenfell. Subject to Board and FSA approval and the acquisition of the additional existingand new Ordinary Shares such that the Consortium will have a minimum 26.05%shareholding, WH Ireland will appoint a further Non-executive Director from theConsortium. Lord Marland commented: "This is consistent with my strategy of investing with like-minded individuals,and backing management teams to help them add value to their businesses." Business strategy The Board of WH Ireland believes that its strategy of achieving expansionthrough the diversification of profit streams whilst retaining a strong assetbacking will be enhanced by the appointments of these individuals. They bringsubstantial experience and expertise in the Company's current areas of operationand wider financial services sector, which will be for the future benefit of WHIreland and its shareholders. It is the Board's objective to continue to expand its three current primarybusiness activities, namely: stockbroking and investment management; corporatefinance and independent financial advice. The strategy is to grow each activityin parallel so that each ultimately represents a similar level of importance tothe Company's profitability. The additional funds will be used to support thisstrategy in order to implement continued growth organically, throughacquisitions and via strategic partnerships. Certain such opportunities arecurrently under initial consideration by the Board and shareholders will beinformed of developments as appropriate. Commenting on the investment, Laurie Beevers, Chief Executive of WH Irelandsaid: "Having seen the Company grow dramatically since David Youngman and I joined in1995, we are delighted that Lord Marland and Mr Lowe are joining us to take thebusiness forward to the next stage. Both have distinguished reputations andjoin the Board as major investors committed to supporting and developing thediversified strategy which we have successfully pursued since our admission toAIM in 2000." In accordance with Schedule Two, paragraph (g), of the AIM Rules, furtherdetails of the Board appointments will be made in due course. For further information, please contact:- Laurie Beevers WH Ireland Group plc 0161 832 6644Greg Cant Rothschild 0161 827 3800Zoe Biddick Biddicks 020 7448 1000 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
WHIreland