Acquisition of Ocean Dial Asset Management Ltd

AssetCo PLC

02 October 2023

 

2 October 2023

LEI: 213800LFMHKVNTZ7GV45

AssetCo plc

("AssetCo" or the "Company")

Completion of acquisition of Ocean Dial Asset Management Limited

AssetCo (AIM: ASTO), the agile asset and wealth management company, is pleased to confirm completion today of its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Ocean Dial Asset Management Limited (the "Acquisition") from Avendus Capital Asset Management (UK) Limited. This follows confirmation of relevant clearances from the FCA and Indian regulators.

The initial consideration has been satisfied by the delivery of 1,464,129 ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the capital of the Company ("Ordinary Shares") and £2.46m in cash (£1.82m net of cash within the business). Up to a further 1,464,129 Ordinary Shares may be issued, subject to adjustment, on a deferred basis until after the calendar year end in accordance with the provisions of the Sale and Purchase Agreement. As part of the Completion arrangements, it was agreed to bring forward £0.5m of cash which was to form part of the deferred consideration and to replace this with the issue of shares rather than the mixtures of cash and shares originally proposed.

All Consideration shares have and will be issued at an agreed issue price of 68.3p per share out of Treasury. Following the transfer for the initial consideration, AssetCo has 6,818,898 ordinary shares remaining in treasury.

The Company announces in accordance with DTR 5.6.1 that, as at 2 October 2023 and following the transfer, the Company's issued share capital consists of 149,292,970 Ordinary Shares of which 6,818,898 are held in treasury. The total number of voting rights attaching to the Ordinary Shares is therefore 142,474,072.

The above figure (142,474,072) may be used by shareholders as the denominator for any calculation pursuant to which they determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company's Ordinary Shares under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

About Ocean Dial Asset Management

Ocean Dial's current business is the management of the assets of the India Capital Growth Fund Limited, which, as at 22 September 2023, had a net asset value of c.£156m generating an annualised run rate revenue for the manager of £1.86m. The Acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing for the Group and it is anticipated that further synergies will be achievable. Ocean Dial had estimated net assets at completion exceeding £0.6m. The fund has been successfully advised for several years by Gaurav Narain and his team based in India and UK.

Martin Gilbert, Chairman of AssetCo, commented:

"We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of Ocean Dial on the timetable originally envisaged and to welcome India Capital Growth Fund as an important and valued client of our Group.  We are excited about the long-term potential that India offers and see opportunities to add value by bringing Ocean Dial including Gaurav and his team together with the other active equity asset management businesses we are combining under the River and Mercantile brand."  

Gaurav Deepak, Co-Founder and CEO of Avendus Capital (India) added: 

"Avendus is delighted to have completed the sale of Ocean Dial to AssetCo, and we look forward to a long and fruitful future relationship with Martin and his team."

For further information, please contact:

AssetCo plc Gary Marshall, CFOO Peter McKellar, Deputy Chairman Tel: [phone]	Numis Securities Limited Nominated adviser and joint broker Giles Rolls / Charles Farquhar Tel: [phone]
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited Joint broker Atholl Tweedie Tel: [phone]	H/Advisors Maitland Neil Bennett Rachel Cohen Tel: [phone]

For further details, visit the website, www.assetco.com

Ticker: AIM: ASTO.L

 

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