European Opportunities Trust (EOT) announced the results of its tender offer to purchase up to 25% of the company’s ordinary shares in issue (you can read about the original announcement here). The offer was taken up in full and, after taking account of roundings, the company will purchase a total of 24,074,030 shares at the tender price of 918.0734 pence per share.
20.2% of the shares in issue were tendered in applications that will be met under the basic entitlement of shareholders to tender up to 25% of their shareholdings and a further 37.1% of the shares in issue were tendered by shareholders wishing to share in the basic entitlements which were not taken up by others. 38% of the company’s registered shareholders participated in the tender.
The tender price is 98% of the NAV per share as at close of business on the calculation date, less the pro rata costs of the tender offer, as more particularly set out in the tender circular. The 2% discount to the NAV applied to the tendered shares will result in an uplift in the NAV per share of continuing holders of approximately 0.67%.
Commenting on the announcement, chair Matthew Dobbs noted: “We are pleased to see that the company’s tender offer has been taken up in full by a range of both retail and institutional investors. As a sizeable trust, we have been able to offer a 25% tender and still retain sufficient scale to be competitive in an environment where the minimum bar for assets and liquidity continues to increase. We note the total of validly tendered ordinary shares as a percentage of issued share capital is in line with similar offers in recent years and reflects the opportunity to redeem holdings at a profit to the current share price, at a time when the entire investment trust sector is trading at a discount.
“The company successfully passed its continuation vote at our recent AGM and we are encouraged by the support of our shareholders for our differentiated strategy. Looking forward, the board remains committed to its stated buy back policy, the primary purpose of which is to reduce discount volatility and to maintain the discount in single digits in normal market conditions. We look forward to updating shareholders on our recent performance at the company’s forthcoming half year results.”
EOT : Results of European Opportunities Trust’s tender offer