Compulsory Partial Redemption

RNS Number : 5003M

River & Mercantile UK Micro Cap Inv

21 January 2021

 

21 January 2021

River and Mercantile UK Micro Cap Investment Company Limited

The information contained within this announcement constitutes inside information.

Partial Compulsory Redemption

The Board of River and Mercantile UK Micro Cap Investment Company Limited (the "Company") is pleased to announce its intention to undertake a compulsory redemption (the "Redemption") of its redeemable ordinary shares of no par value (the "Shares") pursuant to the Company's redemption mechanism (the "Redemption Mechanism"). The Redemption Mechanism is used periodically to return capital to Shareholders so as to return the Company's net asset value ("NAV") to around £100 million, in accordance with the Company's stated policy in the original Prospectus.  At this level of NAV the Board believes the Company is best able to exploit fully the underlying investment opportunity available in AIM listed stocks.

Following a period of strong performance under the stewardship of the Company's lead portfolio manager George Ensor, the Company's NAV has grown to approximately £117 million.  Accordingly, approximately £15 million is to be returned to Shareholders pursuant to the Redemption at a price based on the Company's NAV per Share as at close of business on 15 January 2021.  The Company's NAV per Share as at 15 January 2021 was £2.5336 and, accordingly, after deduction for expenses, the amount to be paid to Shareholders for each redeemed Share is £2.5335 (the "Redemption Price").  It is expected that payments of Redemption monies will be effected either through CREST (in the case of Shares held in uncertificated form) or by cheque (in the case of Shares held in certificated form) by 5 February 2021.

The Redemption is being effected pro rata to holdings of Shares on the register at the close of business on 29 January 2021 (the "Redemption Date") pursuant to a general authorisation to redeem shares held by all Shareholders in accordance with the redemption mechanism in the Company's articles of incorporation. Approximately 12.75% of Shares in issue will be redeemed and cancelled.

Prior to the Redemption the Company has 46,445,043 Shares in issue.  All of the Shares redeemed on the Redemption Date will be cancelled.  No fractions of Shares will be redeemed and so the number of Shares to be redeemed for each Shareholder will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of Shares.

The Shares will be disabled in CREST after close of business on the Redemption Date and the existing ISIN number - GG00BZ8VFG05 (the "Old ISIN") - will expire.  The new ISIN in respect of the remaining Shares which have not been redeemed - GG00BMVHP751 (the "New ISIN") - will be enabled and available for transactions from 8.00 a.m. on 1 February 2021.  Up to and including the Redemption Date, Shares will be traded under the Old ISIN and as such, a purchaser of such Shares would have a market claim for a proportion of the redemption proceeds.  CREST will automatically transfer any open transactions as at the Redemption Date to the New ISIN.

Andrew Chapman, Chairman of River and Mercantile UK Micro Cap Investment Company Limited, said: "The trust has performed extremely strongly over the last several months.  The portfolio manager's steadfast focus on the strategy and belief in the growth potential of the UK Micro Cap sector during this period has delivered for our investors.  This is the fourth time since the Company's launch in December 2014 that we have been able to effect a redemption at NAV to enhance the returns for our investors.  This is tangible evidence that we are continuing to deliver on our promises and we look forward to continued strong performance."

Expected timetable:

Record date for the Redemption  29 January 2021

Redemption Date and expiry of Old ISIN                               29 January 2021

New ISIN enabled  1 February 2021

Redemption monies paid by                                                    5 February 2021

Unless otherwise defined, capitalised words and phrases in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the Company's prospectus dated 4 November 2014.

The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company is Jasper Cross of BNP Paribas Securities Services S.C.A., Guernsey Branch, Company Secretary.

Enquiries:

N+1 Singer

Robert Peel

[phone]

Camarco

Rebecca Noonan

[phone]

BNP Paribas Securities Services S.C.A., Guernsey Branch

Jasper Cross

[phone]

 

END

 

 

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