15 Feb 2013 11:39
Cosalt plc
Proposed administration, Sale of Operating Companies and cancellation of listing
Cosalt plc ("Cosalt" or "Company") announces that further to the announcement on 7 February 2013 regarding funding and potential disposals, the directors of the Company ("Directors") have been unable to identify any alternative source of funding or to reach any alternative agreement with the Company's existing lenders and the trustees of the Cosalt Group's main defined benefit pension scheme ("Pension Trustees"). Accordingly, the Directors have today requested the Royal Bank of Scotland plc and HSBC Bank plc (together the "Banks") to appoint administrators to the Company pursuant to the terms of the security held by the Banks over the Company's assets.
The Directors expect that the administrators will be appointed to the Company imminently and that, following their appointment, the administrators will seek to sell the Company's assets, including the shares in Cosalt Offshore and Cosalt Workwear, in order to minimise potential losses to the Company's creditors. An agreement for the sale of the shares in Cosalt Offshore has been negotiated with Dunwilco (1793) Ltd a company backed by NBGI Private Equity, the majority shareholder of ATR Group. The Directors understand that the administrators will sell Cosalt Offshore to Dunwilco (1793) Ltd on the basis of the terms negotiated immediately following their appointment, with the business continuing to trade as normal, and all employee, customer and supplier contracts and obligations remaining in force. The Cosalt Workwear business will be unaffected and will not be placed into any insolvency process. Instead, the administrators of Cosalt plc will look to sell the shares it holds in Cosalt Workwear to a third party. As a result no employees, customers or suppliers are expected to be materially affected and all of the group's trading subsidiaries should continue to trade as usual.
The Directors do not expect that the disposal of the Company's assets by the administrators will result in shareholders receiving any value for their shareholding.
The Company's shares have been suspended since 1 May 2012. It is expected that, once appointed, the administrators, on behalf of the Company, will request the UK Listing Authority to cancel the Company's ordinary shares of 1p each from admission to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority.
ENDS
Enquiries:
Cosalt plc Tel: +44 (0) 1472 725 560
Trevor Sands, Chief Executive Officer