7th Jul 2005 09:43
ITE Group PLC07 July 2005 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, SOUTH AFRICA AND JAPAN ITE Group plc ("ITE" or the "Company") Tender Offer to purchase up to 29,126,213 Shares at 103 pence per Share 7 July 2005 On 23 May 2005, ITE, the international exhibitions specialist, announced that itintended to return up to £30 million of cash to Shareholders by means of aTender Offer. The Company today announces the terms of that tender offer. Under the terms of the Tender Offer, Numis Securities Limited will offer topurchase up to 29,126,213 Shares at 103 pence per Share. If the maximum numberof shares are tendered the Company will return to Shareholders £30 million. Thetender price represents a premium of approximately 5.6 per cent. to the closingprice of 97.5p per share on Monday 23 May 2005, the date on which the intentionto implement a share buy-back was announced. Qualifying Shareholders may tender either all or a proportion of theirregistered holdings. Shareholders' entitlements under the Tender Offer will becalculated as follows: (i) valid tenders of up to 1,000 Shares from each Qualifying Shareholder will be accepted in full; (ii) if Qualifying Shareholders tender more than 29,126,213 Shares in aggregate, tenders will first be accepted from each Shareholder for up to 1,000 Shares. Tenders for more than 1000 shares will then be scaled back pro-rata to the aggregate level of excess applications, such that no more than 29,126,213 shares are acquired. The Tender Offer document and Tender Form are expected to be posted toshareholders on Friday 8 July, following the formal registration of thecancellation of the share premium account, which is expected to take placetoday. The Tender Offer document and the Tender Form will contain the formalterms of the Tender Offer and instructions to Shareholders on how to tenderShares. Ian Tomkins, Chief Executive, commented: "After careful consideration, and having a view to the financial resourcerequirements necessary to facilitate the organic and acquisition opportunitiesin our core markets, the Board has determined that the current levels of cashbalances are surplus to requirements. Consequently the Board has decided to buyback and cancel shares up to a maximum value of £30 million." Expected timetable of principal events: Record Date 5.00 p.m. on 25 July 2005 Latest time and date for receipt of Tender Forms 3.00 p.m. on 25 July 2005 Tender Offer closes 3.00p.m. on 25 July 2005 Announcement of take-up level under the Tender By 7.30 a.m. on 26 July 2005Offer CREST accounts credited with Tender Offer proceeds 1 August 2005 Despatch of cheques for Tender Offer proceeds in 1 August 2005 respect of certificated Shares Definitions in this announcement have the same meaning as those set out in theTender Offer document. Enquiries: Ian Tomkins +44 (0) 20 7596 5000Chief Executive, ITE Group plc Bridget Fury +44 (0) 20 7653 6620Merlin Numis Securities Limited, which is regulated in the United Kingdom by theFinancial Services Authority, is acting for ITE Group plc and no-one else inrelation to the matters described in this announcement and will not beresponsible to anyone other than ITE Group plc for providing the protectionsafforded to clients of Numis Securities Limited nor for providing advice inrelation to the matters described in this announcement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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