Tender Offer

Second Advance Value Realisation Co 02 June 2004 2 June 2004 Second Advance Value Realisation Company Limited Proposed Tender Offer Authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares Interim Dividend Further to the announcement of 17 May 2004, the Company today announces details of a Tender Offer by Marshall Securities Limited, changes to management fees and authority to repurchase its own Ordinary Shares. The Company also announces an interim dividend of 7p per Ordinary Share. • The Tender Offer, assuming take-up in full by Shareholders, will return between £8.0 million and £10.0 million of cash to Shareholders. At current values the Tender Offer, if approved, will provide Shareholders with an opportunity to realise at least 40 per cent. of their shareholding at net asset value less the costs of the Tender Offer. • The proposed changes to the management fees payable by the Company to the Manager will reduce the basic fees and incentivise the Manager to complete the realisation of the portfolio by 30 June 2005. • The Company is also seeking authority to repurchase through market purchases a further 14.99 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares in issue following the Tender Offer. • The Board has today declared an interim dividend of 7p per Ordinary Share for the period ended 31 March 2004. This dividend will be payable on 12 July 2004 on all Ordinary Shares in issue on 11 June 2004, including Ordinary Shares tendered in the Tender Offer. A circular describing the proposals convening an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to approve the Tender Offer and the authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares is being despatched to Shareholders. For further information please contact: Progressive Value Management Limited 020 7253 9104 Simon Toynbee/Robert Legget Marshall Securities Limited 020 7490 3788 Gary Pinkerton/John Webb Marshall Securities Limited, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for the Company and for no one else in connection with the Tender Offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Marshall Securities Limited or for providing advice in relation to the Tender Offer. 2 June 2004 Second Advance Value Realisation Company Limited (the 'Company') Proposed Tender Offer Authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares Interim Dividend Following the preliminary announcement on 17 May 2004, the Board today announces a Tender Offer which, assuming take-up in full by Shareholders, will return between £8.0 million and £10.0 million of cash to Shareholders. At current values the Tender Offer, if approved, will provide Shareholders with an opportunity to realise at least 40 per cent. of their holding of Ordinary Shares at net asset value less the costs of the Tender Offer. Shareholders may offer any number or all of their Ordinary Shares for purchase in the Tender Offer, subject to scaling back depending on the level of tenders received from other Shareholders. The Board also announces proposed changes to the management fees payable by the Company to the Manager. These changes follow an initiative from the Manager in order to reflect the current portfolio composition and anticipated realisation profile. If the Tender Offer is implemented, the changes would reduce the basic management fee and provide for an early termination fee to incentivise the Manager to liquidate the portfolio by 30 June 2005. The Board is also seeking authority to repurchase through market purchases a further 14.99 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares in issue following completion or lapse of the Tender Offer. The Board has today declared an interim dividend of 7p per Ordinary Share for the period ended 31 March 2004. This dividend will be payable on 12 July 2004 on all Ordinary Shares in issue on 11 June 2004, including Ordinary Shares tendered in the Tender Offer. Shareholders will retain the right to the dividend on Ordinary Shares accepted in the tender. A circular describing the proposals convening an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held on 23 June 2004 (the 'Extraordinary General Meeting') to approve the Tender Offer and the authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares is being despatched to Shareholders. Background to and reasons for the proposals The Company was launched in April 2003 acquiring a portfolio of listed securities with an initial market value of £45.8 million in exchange for the issue of Ordinary Shares and redeemable preference shares. The Company's investment objective is to create value and liquidity for shareholders. Realisation of the portfolio was initially anticipated to take place over a three year period but, in light of the progress made to date in creating value, PVML now expects to liquidate the entire portfolio during the course of the next calendar year. Since launch the Company has realised £48.7 million from the sale of investments. As a result of the successful management of the portfolio, the net asset value per Ordinary Share at 28 May 2004 was 203.7p and the Company had net assets of £20.3 million. The announcement of 17 May 2004 stated that at least £7.5 million would be available for return to Shareholders through the Tender Offer. The Company had cash and cash equivalents of £9.0 million at 28 May 2004. Based on that amount the Board has set a minimum amount available for the Tender Offer of £8.0 million. This amount will be increased to reflect the realisation proceeds generated in the period up to the close of the Tender Offer up to an aggregate maximum of £10.0 million. The Tender Offer, if approved, will permit the return of a significantly greater amount of cash to Shareholders over a shorter period than the use of other share purchase procedures. As the Company moves closer to the achievement of its objective, the Board believes that it is appropriate that all Shareholders should be given the opportunity to realise a proportion of their investment at a price close to the net asset value per share. The Board believes that this is best achieved by a tender offer where all Shareholders may tender the same proportion of their Ordinary Shares at the same time and for the same price per Ordinary Share. The Board believes that, given the success of the Manager to date in realising the Company's portfolio to date, and the current composition of the Company's portfolio, it is appropriate to amend the Management Agreement to reduce the basic management fee and to provide that the Manager should be paid an early termination fee in the event that a liquidator is appointed or the approval by Shareholders of a final exit strategy by 30 June 2005. This is more than a year earlier than the originally anticipated termination date of the 2006 annual general meeting of the Company. The Board believes that this restructuring of the management fee should assist in, and promote, a speedy return of cash to Shareholders and will provide a net saving of management fees. The Board is seeking a further authority to make market purchases of Ordinary Shares up to 14.99 per cent of the Ordinary Shares in issue following completion or lapse of the Tender Offer in order that the Company may make further repurchases of Ordinary Shares from the proceeds of portfolio investments realised following the Tender Offer. The Tender Offer The key points of the Tender Offer are as follows: • between £8.0 million and £10.0 million will be available to purchase Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Tender Offer (the 'Repurchase Monies'). The exact amount available will depend on the extent that additional realisation proceeds are generated in the period up to the close of the Tender Offer; • Ordinary Shares will be acquired at the Tender Price, being the unaudited net asset value per Ordinary Share as at 23 June 2004 (the 'Calculation Date'), adjusted for the costs and expenses of the Tender Offer; • Shareholders will be entitled to have a percentage of their shareholdings purchased pursuant to the Tender Offer ('their Basic Entitlement'); • Shareholders may tender additional Ordinary Shares for purchase to the extent that not all Shareholders tender their entire Basic Entitlements. Such excess tenders will be satisfied pro rata in proportion to the amount tendered by each such Shareholder in excess of his Basic Entitlement to the extent that Repurchase Monies are available because not all Shareholders have tendered their respective Basic Entitlement; • the percentage of Ordinary Shares which will comprise each Shareholder's Basic Entitlement will depend upon the amount of the available Repurchase Monies and the Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share as at the Calculation Date; • the Tender Offer is conditional, inter alia, on the Company receiving valid tenders in respect of no less than 1 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares in issue; and • the repurchase of Ordinary Shares by the Company following the Tender Offer requires approval by Shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting. A summary of the calculation of the Tender Price and the Basic Entitlement is set out below. Assuming that the amount available as Repurchase Monies is £8.0 million, if the calculations of the Tender Price and the Basic Entitlement for the Tender Offer had been effected as at 28 May 2004 the Tender Price would have been 199.6p and the Basic Entitlement would have been equal to approximately 42 per cent. of each Shareholders' shareholding. These figures are for illustrative purposes only and should not be taken as a guide to the actual Tender Price and Basic Entitlement. Shareholders (other than certain Overseas Shareholders) are being invited by Marshall to tender Ordinary Shares to Marshall who will, as principal, purchase Ordinary Shares tendered at the Tender Price and then sell them to the Company at the same price by way of an on-market transaction on the terms of the Repurchase Agreement. Those Ordinary Shares which the Company acquires from Marshall will be cancelled on acquisition. All transactions will be carried out on the London Stock Exchange. The Tender Price payable to Shareholders in respect of each Ordinary Share repurchased under the Tender Offer will be derived from the unaudited Net Asset Value of the Company and the corresponding Net Asset Value per Ordinary Share as at the Calculation Date in accordance with the formula set out in the Circular. The Net Asset Value will include a provision for the termination fee described below. Adjustments to the Net Asset Value as at the Calculation Date will be made to reflect the costs and expenses of the Tender Offer which in total are anticipated to be approximately £70,000 inclusive of VAT. The Basic Entitlement of each Shareholder will be calculated on the Calculation Date by determining the percentage of the aggregate number of Ordinary Shares in issue on the Tender Offer record date that may be purchased at the Tender Price if the Repurchase Monies are utilised in full. Each Shareholder's Basic Entitlement will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of shares. The amount of the Repurchase Monies, the Tender Price and the Basic Entitlement expressed as a percentage will be calculated on, and as at, the Calculation Date, and will be announced as soon as practicable after their determination, which the Directors expect to be on 24 June 2004. The maximum price under the Tender Offer will be the Tender Price and the minimum price will be 1p per Ordinary Share. The Tender Offer is not being made directly or indirectly in into or from the United States, Canada, Australia or Japan. Any Shareholder who is unable to give the warranties set out in the Circular will be deemed not to have tendered their Ordinary Shares pursuant to the Tender Offer. David Kempton and Robert Norbury, who are directors of the Company, hold 30,000 Ordinary Shares and 20,000 Ordinary Shares respectively and they will both be tendering their full Basic Entitlement pursuant to the Tender Offer. Amendment to the Management Agreement The Board and the Manager have entered into (conditional on Shareholders approving the Tender Offer) the Amended Management Agreement so as to: (a) reduce the basic monthly management fee from 1.0 per cent. per annum to 0.5 per cent. per annum with effect from the passing of the resolution to approve the repurchase of Ordinary Shares by the Company following the Tender Offer. The basic monthly management fee is calculated on the aggregate value of Ordinary Shares and redeemable preference shares issued by the Company on its launch in 2003; and (b) provide for an early termination fee (which will be accrued from the passing of the resolution) of £285,000 plus VAT to be payable prior to the appointment of a liquidator or implementation of an equivalent final exit strategy, provided such occurs by 30 June 2005. The effect of these amendments will be to reduce total fees payable under the Management Agreement and to incentivise the Manager to complete the realisation of the portfolio by 30 June 2005. If this objective is met the amount of the management fee saving will be marginal, but if this realisation target is not achieved the saving will be approximately £290,000 plus VAT. In the unlikely event that the Company continues beyond 30 September 2005, the Board and the Manager have agreed that the basic monthly fee should be further reduced (although the rate of such reduced fee has not been determined) and that the Management Agreement including the amendments thereto would be terminable by the Company giving seven days' notice. Authority to repurchase Ordinary Shares The Directors are seeking the approval of Shareholders to make market purchases of up to 14.99 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following the completion or lapsing of the Tender Offer. If the authority is granted, the Directors' intend, following the completion or lapsing of the Tender Offer, to continue returning capital to Shareholders by purchasing Ordinary Shares in the market, at a discount to net asset value for cancellation. This authority is separate from, and additional to, the authority to implement repurchases of Ordinary Shares by the Company as a result of the Tender Offer. The authority to purchase Ordinary Shares is subject to approval by Shareholders. Results for the period ended 31 March 2004, Prospects, and Interim Dividend The Company expects to publish its preliminary results for the period ended 31 March 2004 on 24 June 2004. The Board believes that the financial and trading prospects for the Company, given the rate of realisation of the portfolio to date, are favourable and that the entire portfolio ought to be realised, and the liquidators appointed to the Company or the approval by Shareholders of a final exit strategy, in advance of the three year timetable contemplated on launch of the Company. In order that all Ordinary Shares, including those tendered, will receive a dividend for the period ended 31 March 2004 the Board has today declared an Interim Dividend of 7p per Ordinary Share payable to Shareholders on the register on 11 June 2004. Accordingly, all Shareholders on the register on that date will be entitled to the Interim Dividend on their entire holding of Ordinary Shares regardless of whether they tender all or some of those shares in the Tender Offer. The Board does not anticipate that the Company will propose a final dividend for the period ended 31 March 2004. Extraordinary General Meeting An Extraordinary General Meeting has been convened for 10.00 a.m. on 23 June 2004 to approve the Tender Offer and the authority to make market purchases. Expected timetable of events 2004 Record date for Interim Dividend the close of business on 11 June Latest time and date for receipt of Forms of Proxy for 10.00 a.m. on the EGM 21 June Latest time and date for receipt of Tender Forms 3.00 p.m. on 21 June Record date for Tender Offer the close of business on 21 June Extraordinary General Meeting 10.00 a.m. on 23 June Calculation of Repurchase Monies, Tender Price and the close of Basic Entitlement business on 23 June Announcement of result of Tender Offer, amount of 24 June Repurchase Monies, Tender Price and Basic Entitlement Purchase of Ordinary Shares under the Tender Offer 24 June CREST accounts credited with Tender Offer 29 June consideration and any unsold uncertificated Ordinary Shares Despatch of cheques for Tender Offer consideration in 29 June respect of certificated Ordinary Shares sold under the Tender Offer Despatch of balance certificates in respect of any by 29 June unsold certificated Ordinary Shares Payment of Interim Dividend 12 July If any of the above items and/or dates change, the revised times and/or dates will be notified to Shareholders by announcement through a Regulatory Information Service. Marshall Securities Limited, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for the Company and for no one else in connection with the Tender Offer and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Marshall Securities Limited or for providing advice in relation to the Tender Offer. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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