In QuotedData’s morning briefing 8 December 2023:
- Barings Emerging EMEA Opportunities (BEMO) says that, earlier this year, Russian retailer Magnit announced a tender offer of its shares. After seeking legal advice that participation in the transaction would be permissible under the current sanctions regime, BEMO applied to tender its shares and has confirmed that its application was successful in respect of all its shares (it tendered 23,826 shares at a price of RUB 2,215). The proceeds ($578,257.30) have been received into the company’s account at State Street and will be reflected in the net asset value at the next available opportunity. Prior to realising these shares, the holding was valued at zero in BEMO’s net asset value. Chairman Frances Daley commented: “We view this positive development as evidence of the latent value of the Company’s Russian assets and remain focused on how best shareholder value can be preserved, created and realised in relation to these holdings.” Separately, BEMO has announced its annual results – see below.
- Tetragon Financial Group (TFG) has announced the results of its “modified Dutch auction” tender offer under which it will purchase 3,414,623 of its non-voting shares, at a purchase price of $10.25 per share, for an aggregate cost of $34,999,885.75, excluding fees. The tender offer was subject to proration and the final proration factor is 27.75%. Tetragon will make payment for the shares validly tendered and accepted around 12 December 2023. All shares tendered and not purchased in the tender offer will be promptly returned to the tendering shareholders.
- Crystal Amber (CRS) has announced that it intends to conduct on-market purchases under a share buyback programme for £5m with the aim of reducing its share capital and returning cash to shareholders. The maximum price per share that CRS will pay will be the higher of 1) 105% of the average of the middle market quotations for an ordinary share as derived from the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc for the five business days immediately preceding the day on which the purchase is made; and 2) the value of an ordinary share calculated on the basis of the higher of the price quoted for (i) the last independent trade of and (ii) the highest current independent bid for the ordinary shares. Winterflood Securities Limited has been appointed to execute and manage the programme, independent of CRS, and the programme will run until 31 January 2024. CRS’s board says that the share price is significantly below the last reported net asset value per share of 98.3 pence at present and believes that the buyback programme will help reduce this discount by providing an exit mechanism for shareholders and reducing the volatility of the share price. The buyback will be funded from the company’s existing surplus cash resources and all ordinary shares purchased will be cancelled.
We also have:
- Annual results from Baring EMEA Opportunities
- Schroders Capital Global Innovation’s sale of Carmot Therapeutics