Member Info for SmallerThanLife

28 June today and no news on the Long Stop Date. I'm expecting an RNS in the next few hours extending it for another month or so.

"Notices convening the Court Meeting and the General Meeting for 10.00 a.m. and 10.15 a.m. respectively on 28 June 2024".

Just a reminder that things should start to move forward after Friday's meeting.

Thanks YHAL. I thought that might be the case. I hold my shares in a trading account so it doesn't affect me.

As you probably know KKR is a huge PE/VC operation that is probably 1,000 (or more) times bigger than IQG so investing in KKR directly won't give you much visibility into IQG's own performance.

Qd22, I agree that it is frustrating that the company is being taken private at such a small premium.

When the time comes it needs to be an all or nothing declaration - ie you sell all your shares at 480p or you hold on to all of them. You can't opt for 50/50 or anything like that. That is another frustration.

But as I like the company, have a long investment horizon and I am curious to see where the privatisation leads, I do want to hold on to a small number of shares. Therefore I am progressively selling the bulk of my holding in the market at around 465p-470p to leave a small residual number that I will take a punt on through the privatisation process.

One more thing - KKR has talked about investing significantly in the company so there will presumably be several rights issues / share subscription opportunities coming up. So there might well be a chance to increase your shareholding in the future although whether this will represent value or not will be very hard to judge. So just a small punt for me.

Also, I have no idea how all this will affect an ISA/LISA holding. So please DYOR on this.

Can someone remind me when the new shares are issued to our trading accounts? I had the rights subscription funds removed from my account last week so presumably it's quite soon. Thanks!

If you go to the Offer Document on the IQ Geo website you can find the NM Rothschild valuation of Topco. Look under Alternative Offer Documents - Rule 24.11 Letter.

It's full of caveats but the key section reads:

"The Estimated Value

On the basis of and subject to the foregoing, it is our view as at the date of this letter that the Estimated

Value of a Topco Investor Share is within a range of 3,370 pence – 3,900 pence (implying 337 pence –

390 pence for the Alternative Offer per IQGeo Share). This Estimated Value implies an enterprise value

of £217.5 million to £254.3 million at the bottom and top of the range respectively, after adjusting for the

IQGeo net debt position as set out in the sources of information and bases of calculation in paragraph

13.1.3 in Part Seven the Scheme Document."

Personally I think this is a totally meaningless figure. Why would KKR offer 480p if the true value of the shares is really 337-390p? Instead it is NM Rothschild (understandably) avoiding sticking it's neck out.

But there is no question that if you opt to retain your shares instead of taking the 480p offer you are taking on a big risk.

Personally, as I mentioned in another thread, I'm going to sell 70% of my shares in the open market and opt to go along for the ride with the remaining 30%.

Bidco/Topco are standard names used in these situations. Don't read anything into them.

I agree it's frustrating that a company that really seemed to be going places is being taken private in this way. Particularly as the bid price is not that much higher than where the shares had been trading recently. But all is not lost. You do have the option of retaining your shares in the company although as a (presumably) small minority shareholder in a private company you won't have much say in the way it is run.

My guess - and it is only a guess - is that the buyers (KKR) will invest a considerable amount into IQG over the next 5 years to try to make it a big global player in its market. Then, when the time is right, they will have an IPO (maybe in the US where valuations are higher) to cash in on their investment. Small shareholders such as you and I can ride on the back of this by opting to keep our shares rather than selling them at the 480p bid price.

BUT - we will be locking our money up for an indefinite period, there will probably be cash calls on us to help fund the development of IQG (which presumably we can decline although that will mean dilution of our holding) and it's quite possible the whole project will run into obstacles. So it's a big risk.

For me, I'm going to sell 70% of my shareholding in the market at a good profit (I was lucky enough to start buying in a few years ago at 70p) and take a punt on the privatisation/future IPO route I outlined above actually coming to pass. with my remaining 30%. This 30% could easily go to 0, but I think there is also a chance of it doubling or trebling 5 years down the track if things go well.

These are just my personal views. It's a high risk route. The safer option is to take the 480p offer and hopefully make a bit of a profit on that. As always DYOR.

That's what advancing age does! But you haven't missed anything on the STM front.

Enjoy your break. T20 Cricket World Cup?

Sold another 10k at 57.17p just before the long weekend.

As expected the Long Stop Date has been put back today - but it's only until 28 June (1 month) which I guess means that they must feel that they're almost there. What a long and drawn out business this has been!

I was hoping to get some news today (Friday). Still nothing.

I'm starting to lose my nerve.

I think I'll sell a few more shares today if I can get 56p or better.

Supposedly these started trading this morning. Does anyone know what the ticker / stock code is? Presumably private investors can start buying and selling these now?

Good to see signs of life. It's been a long time!

Only 1 week until the Long Stop Date.

I hope we are not going to get an RNS pushing this back.

My money has been tied up in this takeover for more than 6 months now. There are lots of other attractive investments available.

I think you.ve got it spot on BobbyA. This morning's RNS is just more of the same. Cash now £2.5M versus a market cap of £3.6M. The forward sales pipeline is now (supposedly) £12M but it takes years to convert this into actual revenue.

I'm sitting on a big loss on there shares but there is always the temptation to buy some more at 7p or 8p to average down my cost and then wait for either an upturn in profitability or a takeover. But will that ever happen?

No big surprises in the RNS today. We already knew the company was likely to go private and the dividend cut had been flagged previously.

The big question is how will the tender offer to shareholders be priced. After banging on about how the company's shares are undervalued I don't really see how management can justify an offer that is not markedly above the current SP.

But stranger things have happened on AIM!

I sold about 25% of my holding at 56.97p today. It's pretty close to the 60p offer price. It might have been a mistake but I guess I wanted to take a bit of risk off the table and free up some funds for other opportunities.

Today's cash offer of 480p per share comes as a welcome surprise. BUT - it doesn't seem overly generous for a fast growing company such as IQG. It's a recommended offer so I doubt there is much chance of it going higher unless a rival bidder appears. Let's hope so!

There is an alternative which is to take unlisted shares in the bidding company. Maybe that is interesting? I'll need to look into the terms.

Anyway, good news even if the offer seems a bit low.

The SP is still 55p-60p as it has been for months. If there were problems afoot it would probably have already weakened as word would have got out.

This is drawing ever nearer. I can't recall a takeover that has taken as long as this to complete. Let's hope for some good news soon. I do hope that we are not going to hear that the long stop date has been pushed back.