Jambo/STM DCU update - email received from Tom Cooper27 Feb 2026 08:45
Dear former STM shareholder,
Please find an update, insofar as we are able.
As you are aware, the acquisition of STM Group PLC (“STM”) by Jambo SRC Limited (“Jambo”) included a deferred contingent element dependent on the satisfaction of certain conditions which, if satisfied, would result in Jambo issuing Deferred Consideration Units (“DCUs”) at the rate of one DCU for each STM share held immediately prior to completion of the acquisition. These DCUs would then, in turn, be exchanged for loan notes redeemable up to a maximum value of 7p per STM share. Jambo subsequently communicated to former STM shareholders, in fairly simplistic terms, that it considered the most significant conditions - being the absence of regulatory actions against STM and/or the sale of the Options Corporate Pensions Master Trust, had not been satisfied and, as a result, Jambo considered the DCUs to be worthless and hence did not issue any Loan Notes.
This opinion is disputed by a Steering Committee (formed by former STM directors, including the duly appointed DCU Representative, and two of the larger former shareholders), and having taken legal advice on the matter, the Steering Committee investigated options for recovering this element of the expected sale proceeds. It should be noted that the Jambo Board refused to engage with the Steering Committee and its legal adviser in any meaningful way.
On 5 September 2025, the entire Jambo Board, including Edi Truel, was removed and replaced by a restructuring adviser believed to be acting on behalf of the lenders that provided Jambo with the funding for the acquisition. We understand that Jambo, at the instigation of the principal lender, understood to be NatWest Bank, appointed FTI Consulting LLP, a leading corporate consultancy, to advise on options available to Jambo. Following receipt of the advice, which included an accelerated process inviting offers for the STM shares and/or some or all of the constituent businesses within the STM Group, three representatives of FTI Consulting LLP were appointed as joint administrators of Jambo on 19 December 2025 and, in turn, the shares in STM were sold to a third-party consortium established for that purpose on the same day. The maximum sale proceeds amount to ÂŁ12m, including a non-refundable deposit of ÂŁ2m and a deferred amount of ÂŁ10m, dependent on the various regulators not objecting to the consequential change of control over the relevant regulated entities.
Unfortunately, the secured creditor balance, which is understood to amount to some ÂŁ38.5m, far exceeds the maximum sale proceeds noted above, and the joint administrators have indicated that they do not expect Jambo to be in a position to make any distributions or payments to the unsecured creditors of Jambo, including the contingent deferred consideration potentially due to the former STM shareholders, given the estimated deficiency of assets of ÂŁ26.5m arising after the recovery of the fixed.....TBC see next mes