8 Apr 2015 07:00
LSE: CIN
8 April 2015
City of London Group plc
("COLG" or "the Company" and, together with its subsidiaries and associates, "the Group")
Proposed sale of Therium Capital Management Ltd ("Therium")
The Company is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to sell its interests in Therium, its litigation fund management associate.
COLG's interest in Therium comprises ordinary shares, preference shares and loans all of which will be sold for a total consideration of £3.4m, of which £1.7m is payable in cash on completion with the balance being deferred. The deferred consideration will be repaid two years from completion or earlier from performance fees or incremental management fees and it will be guaranteed by Therium's new partner. A further contingent payment will be earned if performance fees exceed a certain level. The cash proceeds received will be used to repay debt at COLG. The disposal will generate a profit on disposal of c.£1.5m for the Group which will be recognised in 2015/16.
Completion of the sale is expected to follow shortly when certain conditions to completion have been satisfied. A further announcement will be made at that time.
COLG has one remaining direct investment of £412k in a litigation case. Following a material adverse change in the merits of this case a decision has been taken not to pursue the case further and on this basis the Company will provide in full for its investment. The Company retains investments of c.£200k in LLPs which provide exposure to portfolios of litigation cases managed by Therium.
For further information:
City of London Group plc | +44 (0)20 7628 5518 |
John Kent (Acting CEO) | |
N+1 Singer | +44 (0)20 7496 3000 |
Jonny Franklin-Adams, Richard Salmond |
Notes to Editors:
City of London Group plc is fully listed on the London Stock Exchange plc (LSE symbol CIN).
COLG is a financial services group focused on providing finance to the SME and professional services sectors. It does this by financing trade and securing specialist funding throughout the supply chain to help fuel growth in these sectors, as major national and foreign banks limit new lending to these borrowers. COLG seeks to identify and exploit product niches and business models in these sectors.
www.cityoflondongroup.com