Last checked at 29 Jun 2018 07:00
29 June 2018
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION.
This announcement is an advertisement and not an admission document or a prospectus. This announcement does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for any securities in any jurisdiction, nor shall it (or any part of it), or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, or act as any inducement to enter into, any contract or commitment whatsoever relating to any securities. Prospective investors should not subscribe for or purchase any securities referred to in this announcement except in compliance with applicable securities laws and regulation and on the basis of the information in the final admission document ("Admission Document") to be published by the Company, and any supplement thereto, in connection with the placing ("Placing") of its ordinary shares ("Shares") and the proposed admission ("Admission") of the Shares to trading on the AIM market of London Stock Exchange plc ("London Stock Exchange"). Terms defined in the Admission Document have the same meanings in this announcement unless otherwise stated. A copy of the Admission Document will, following publication, be available for viewing on the Company's website at www.knightsplc.com.
Knights Group Holdings plc
("Knights", the "Company" or the "Group")
Admission to trading on AIM and first day of dealings
Knights, one of the UK's fastest growing regional legal and professional services businesses, today announces that 71,379,311 ordinary shares have been issued to trading on AIM under the ticker KGH.L, and ISIN number GB00BFYF6298. The Company's documentation is available to view on its website www.knightsplc.com.
The Company will receive gross proceeds of £30 million pursuant to the Placing, part of which will be used to repay the majority of its existing debt and fees. The Directors believe that the IPO will enable the Company to accelerate its growth strategy, both through organic and acquisition led growth.
The Placing undertaken in conjunction with the Admission was significantly oversubscribed, raising gross proceeds of approximately £50m.
Upon Admission, the Company will have a market capitalisation of approximately £103.5 million.
The allocation of the Sale Shares sold in the Placing by existing shareholders has changed slightly from that set out in paragraph 14.6 of Part VII of the Admission Document. The revised allocation is set out in the annex to this Announcement.
Commenting on today's announcement, David Beech, CEO at Knights, said:
"We are delighted to be joining AIM today with a high-quality register of institutional investors that is testament to the strength of our business model. We are looking forward to life as a listed company and keeping our new shareholders updated with our ongoing growth plans as we seek to build on the positive momentum we have generated in recent years."
-Ends-
Enquiries
Knights | |
David Beech, CEO | via MHP Communications |
Numis (Nominated Adviser and Broker) | |
Stuart Skinner, Kevin Cruickshank, Michael Burke, Hugo Rubinstein | +44 20 7260 1000 |
MHP Communications (Media enquiries) | |
Andrew Jaques, James White, Kelsey Traynor | +44 20 3128 8100 knights@mhpc.com |
Notes to Editors
Knights is a fast-growing, regional legal and professional services business, ranked within the UK top 100 largest law firms by revenue. Knights was one of the first law firms in the UK to move from the traditional partnership model to a corporate structure in 2012 and has since grown rapidly. Knights has specialists in all of the key areas of corporate and commercial law so that it can offer end-to-end support to businesses of all sizes and in all sectors. The Company's main focus is on the UK's secondary regional markets, offering 'big city' quality expertise from a regional cost base. Currently, Knights operates from six offices located in Cheltenham, Chester, Derby, Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Manchester, Wilmslow, Chester, Derby, Cheltenham and Oxford and Wilmslow with a seventh office in Manchester added today with the acquisition of Turner Parkinson LLP which completes on Admission.
Annex: Allocation of Sale Shares
Table 1: Revised allocation of Sale Shares:The allocation of the Sale Shares has been slightly revised as follows:
Name | Number of Sale Shares | Shareholding immediately following Admission | |
Number of Ordinary Shares | Percentage of Enlarged Share Capital | ||
Joanne Beech | 4,000,000 | - | - |
Mark Beech | 3,793,104 | 1,206,896 | 1.7% |
Karl Bamford | 3,500,000 | 1,500,000 | 2.1% |
Balbinder Johal | 2,500,000 | 1,000,000 | 1.4% |
Table 2: Allocation of Sale Shares (as previously stated):
Under the allocations as originally set out in paragraph 14.6 of part VII of the Admission Document, the position was:
Name | Number of Sale Shares | Shareholding immediately following Admission | |
Number of Ordinary Shares | Percentage of Enlarged Share Capital | ||
Joanne Beech | 4,000,000 | - | - |
Mark Beech | 3,758,621 | 1,241,379 | 1.7% |
Karl Bamford | 3,758,621 | 1,241,379 | 1.7% |
Balbinder Johal | 2,275,862 | 1,224,138 | 1.7% |