Caledonia Regulatory News (CLDN)

Caledonia Investments plc

Sale of stake in Celerant Consulting

Caledonia Investments plc ("Caledonia") announces that it has sold its stake in Celerant Consulting Investments Limited ("Celerant"), the global operations management consultancy, to Hitachi Consulting Corporation. The transaction will comprise the sale of Caledonia's 47.3% equity holding in Celerant, together with the repayment of outstanding loan notes and accrued interest, for an immediate euro and sterling cash payments equivalent to £43.4m. A further £4.3m equivalent will be placed in escrow in respect of warranties, completion balance sheet adjustments and other items and, to the extent not utilised, will be released over time as the various escrow periods expire.

Caledonia originally invested £20.3m in Celerant in May 2006, backing a management buy-out from Novell Inc. through a combination of equity and loan notes. Since then, Caledonia has received £9.6m in loan note repayments and interest and the residual investment was held in Caledonia's condensed group statement of financial position at 30 September 2012 at a value of £19.6m. The disposal will deliver a net IRR to Caledonia of 27.9% and a multiple of 3.5x cash invested. The initial sale proceeds will be held on deposit for future investment.

Commenting on the sale, Duncan Johnson, Caledonia's Head of Unquoted Investments, said:

"We believe that Celerant will fit well into Hitachi's growing consultancy business and are delighted that Caledonia's long term, supportive investment approach has both contributed to its development and delivered good returns for our shareholders."

2 January 2013

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