6th Feb 2007 07:01
Polar Capital Holdings PLC06 February 2007 THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THEUNITED STATES, CANADA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN 6 February 2007 Polar Capital Holdings plc Polar Capital announces Placing Price of 190 pence per Ordinary Share Polar Capital Holdings plc ("Polar Capital" or the "Company"), the specialistasset management group, is pleased to announce the successful pricing of itsinitial public offering of its Ordinary Shares (the "IPO"). • The offer price has been set at 190p per Ordinary Share (the "Placing Price") • Based on the Placing Price, the market capitalisation of Polar Capital on the commencement of conditional dealings will be approximately £120.5 million • The Placing consists of 3.2 million new Ordinary Shares (the "Placing Shares") and 6.3 million Existing Ordinary Shares, in total representing 15.1% of the 63.4 million Ordinary Shares in issue • It is expected that admission of the Existing Ordinary Shares and the Placing Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission") will become effective, and that unconditional dealings in the Ordinary Shares on the London Stock Exchange will commence, at 8.00am today • The ticker symbol is POLR Bridgewell Limited ("Bridgewell") is acting as nominated adviser and broker toPolar Capital. Commenting on the IPO, Mark Kary, Chief Executive Officer of Polar Capital,said: "The IPO has received an excellent response from important institutionalinvestors. We are delighted with the result and look forward to continuing todeliver on our objective of providing strong, sustainable earnings and dividendgrowth for all our shareholders. The outcome is a tribute to the hard work andsuccess of all Polar Capital's staff." For further information please contact: Financial DynamicsEd Gascoigne-Pees +44 (0)20 7269 7132Paul Marriott +44 (0)20 7269 7252 BridgewellBen Money-Coutts +44 (0)20 7003 3000Stephen Cheung About Polar Capital Polar Capital was founded in December 2000 by Brian Ashford-Russell and TimWoolley who were previously responsible for the management of Henderson GlobalInvestors' technology funds. Caledonia Investments plc became a foundingshareholder and Polar Capital's corporate structure was established and receivedregulatory approval in January 2001. Mark Kary joined as CEO from Morgan Stanleyin April 2005 to lead the Company's next stage of development and in October2006 the Company entered into a seeding agreement with a subsidiary of XLCapital Ltd (NYSE:XL) which has committed to provide up to $175m in investmentseed capital to support the launch of certain new funds. Today Polar Capital has a staff of 54 of whom 29 are investment professionalsmanaging 15 funds, one managed account and two advisory relationships. Thesefunds, which are aimed at institutional and professional investors, havecombined assets under management at 31 December 2006 of $3.3bn. Polar Capital'sfirst business unit focused on the technology sector, and subsequent recruitmentresulted in the establishment of the Japan and UK teams (2001), Europe (2003),Global Emerging Markets (2004), Utilities (2005), and Macro and GlobalOpportunities (2006). This announcement, which has been issued by the Company and is the soleresponsibility of the Company, has been approved only for the purposes ofSection 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 of the United Kingdomby Bridgewell Limited, Old Change House, 128 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V4BJ, a firm which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by theFinancial Services Authority. This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation tosell, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase, any securities and anypurchase of securities of the Company pursuant to any share placing undertakenby the Company in conjunction with Admission ("Placing") should only be made onthe basis of the information contained in the Admission Document and anysupplement or amendment thereto. The Admission Document contains detailedinformation about the Company and its management, as well as financialstatements and other financial data. Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken or transmitted intothe United States, Canada, the Republic of South Africa, Australia or Japan orto a resident, national or citizen of the United States, Canada, the Republic ofSouth Africa, Australia or Japan. Any Placing and the distribution of thisannouncement and other information in connection with Admission and any Placingin certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law and persons into whosepossession any announcement or other information referred to herein comes shouldinform themselves about and observe any such restriction. Any failure to complywith these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of anysuch jurisdiction. The Ordinary Shares have not been and will not be registered under theapplicable securities laws of the United States, Canada, the Republic of SouthAfrica, Australia or Japan and may not be offered or sold within the UnitedStates, Canada, the Republic of South Africa, Australia or Japan or to, or forthe account or benefit of citizens or residents of the United States, Canada,the Republic of South Africa, Australia or Japan. The Ordinary Shares may not be offered or sold in the United States absentregistration or an exemption from registration. Information in this announcement or any of the documents relating to Admissionand the Placing cannot be relied upon as a guide to future performance. Pastperformance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The price andvalue of securities may go down as well as up. Persons needing advice shouldcontact a professional adviser who specialises in advising on the acquisition ofshares and other securities. Bridgewell is advising Polar Capital in relation to Admission and no one elseand will not be responsible to anyone other than Polar Capital for providing theprotections afforded to the customers of Bridgewell nor for providing any advicein relation to Admission or any other matter referred to herein. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Polar Capital