Last checked at 14 Jan 2022 13:30
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN ARE RESTRICTED AND ARE NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH IT WOULD BE UNLAWFUL TO DO SO.
FURTHER, THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE OR CONTAIN ANY INVITATION, SOLICITATION, RECOMMENDATION, OFFER OR ADVICE TO ANY PERSON TO SUBSCRIBE FOR, OTHERWISE ACQUIRE OR DISPOSE OF ANY SECURITIES IN SDI GROUP PLC OR ANY OTHER ENTITY IN ANY JURISDICTION. NEITHER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT NOR THE FACT OF ITS DISTRIBUTION SHALL FORM THE BASIS OF, OR BE RELIED ON IN CONNECTION WITH, ANY INVESTMENT DECISION IN RESPECT OF SDI GROUP PLC. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (EU) 596/2014 AS IT FORMS PART OF UK DOMESTIC LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 ("MAR"), AND IS DISCLOSED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COMPANY'S OBLIGATIONS UNDER ARTICLE 17 OF MAR. IN ADDITION, MARKET SOUNDINGS (AS DEFINED IN MAR) WERE TAKEN IN RESPECT OF CERTAIN OF THE MATTERS CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, WITH THE RESULT THAT CERTAIN PERSONS BECAME AWARE OF SUCH INSIDE INFORMATION, AS PERMITTED BY MAR. UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND SUCH PERSONS SHALL THEREFORE CEASE TO BE IN POSSESSION OF INSIDE INFORMATION.
SDI Group plc
("SDI", the "Company" or the "Group")
Exercise of Options and Total Voting Rights and
Proposed Secondary Placing of 1,260,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company
SDI Group plc, the AIM quoted group focused on the design and manufacture of scientific and technology products for use in digital imaging and sensing and control applications, announces that it has been informed by the Directors of the Company of their intention to sell, in aggregate, 1,260,000 ordinary shares of 1 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the capital of Company (the "Placing Shares") at a price of 195 pence per Placing Share (the "Placing").
Each of Ken Ford (Chairman), Mike Creedon (CEO), Jon Abell (CFO), David Tilston (Non-Executive Director) and Isabel Napper (Non-Executive Director) (together, the "Selling Shareholders") intend to participate in the Placing.
Exercise of Options
The Company also announces that it has issued and allotted a total of 1,889,129 new Ordinary Shares following the exercise of options by all of the directors (as named above). A number of these new Ordinary Shares will be sold in the Placing by certain directors of the Company to satisfy tax obligations.
Further information with regards to the exercise of options and Placing Shares can be found in the table below.
Admission and Total Voting Rights
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the 1,889,129 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will become effective and trading will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 20 January 2022.
After Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue will be 102,047,293 and the total number of voting rights will therefore be 102,047,293. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Placing Further Information
finnCap Ltd ("finnCap") is acting as sole bookrunner ("Bookrunner") in relation to the Placing.
The sale of the Placing Shares will be effected by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors which will be launched immediately following this announcement (the "Bookbuild"). A further announcement will be made following completion of the Bookbuild.
The timing for the close of the Bookbuild and the distribution of allocations will be at the absolute discretion of finnCap. The Selling Shareholders have entered into a secondary placing agreement with finnCap to act as Bookrunner.
The Placing Shares represent in aggregate 1.23 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital of the Company following Admission. Details of the numbers of Placing Shares to be disposed of by the Selling Shareholders are as follows:
| Resultant holding assuming all Placing Shares sold and following Admission | |||||||
Director | Current shareholding | Current number of options held | Number of options exercised | Total number of Placing Shares | Ordinary Shares | % | Options over Ordinary Shares | % |
Ken Ford | 1,000,000 | 391,052 | 215,217 | 200,000 | 1,015,217 | 0.99% | 175,835 | 0.17% |
Mike Creedon | 442,452 | 1,365,147 | 652,173 | 320,000 | 774,625 | 0.76% | 712,974 | 0.70% |
Jon Abell | 100,000 | 1,167,603 | 521,739 | 250,000 | 371,739 | 0.36% | 645,864 | 0.63% |
David Tilston | 90,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 240,000 | 100,000 | 0.10% | 0 | 0.00% |
Isabel Napper | 65,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 250,000 | 65,000 | 0.06% | 0 | 0.00% |
Enquiries
SDI Group plc 01223 320480
Ken Ford, Chairman
Mike Creedon, CEO
Jon Abell, CFO
www.thesdigroup.net
finnCap Ltd 020 7220 0500
Ed Frisby/Kate Bannatyne/Milesh Hindocha - Corporate Finance
Andrew Burdis/Sunila de Silva - ECM
About SDI Group plc:
SDI designs and manufactures scientific and technology products for use in digital imaging and sensing and control applications including life sciences, healthcare, astronomy, manufacturing, precision optics and art conservation. SDI operates through its company divisions: Atik Cameras, Synoptics, Graticules Optics, Sentek, Astles Control Systems, Applied Thermal Control, MPB Industries, Chell Instruments, Monmouth Scientific, Uniform Engineering and Scientific Vacuum Systems.
SDI continues to grow by developing its own technology advancements and by improving its global sales channels, as well as through pursuing strategic, complementary acquisitions. www.thesdigroup.net
Important Notice:
MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO TAKE PART IN THE PLACING. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY OFFER OF SECURITIES TO WHICH IT RELATES ARE ONLY ADDRESSED TO AND DIRECTED AT (1) IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OR ANY MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA, PERSONS WHO ARE QUALIFIED INVESTORS WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 2(e) OF EU REGULATION (EU) 2017/1129 AND ANY RELEVANT IMPLEMENTING MEASURES (THE "PROSPECTUS REGULATION"); AND (2) IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, PERSONS WHO (I) HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN MATTERS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS WHO FALL WITHIN ARTICLE 19(5) OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (FINANCIAL PROMOTION) ORDER 2005 (AS AMENDED) (THE "ORDER"); OR (II) FALL WITHIN ARTICLE 49(2)(A) TO (D) OF THE ORDER OR (III) ARE PERSONS TO WHOM AN OFFER OF THE PLACING SHARES MAY OTHERWISE LAWFULLY BE MADE (ALL SUCH PERSONS REFERRED TO IN (1) AND, (2) TOGETHER BEING REFERRED TO AS "RELEVANT PERSONS"). THE INFORMATION REGARDING THE PLACING SET OUT IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MUST NOT BE ACTED ON OR RELIED ON BY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT RELEVANT PERSONS. ANY INVESTMENT OR INVESTMENT ACTIVITY TO WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO RELEVANT PERSONS AND WILL BE ENGAGED IN ONLY WITH RELEVANT PERSONS.
This announcement and the information contained herein is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of securities in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa or Japan or in any jurisdiction in which such an offer or invitation is unlawful.
The Placing Shares have not been, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under the securities laws of any State or other jurisdiction of the United States, and, absent registration, may not be offered or sold in the United States (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and the securities laws of any relevant State or other jurisdiction of the United States. There will be no public offering of the Placing Shares in the United States or elsewhere.
The Placing Shares have not been approved or disapproved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities commission or other regulatory authority in the United States, nor have any of the foregoing authorities passed upon or endorsed the merits of the Placing or the accuracy or adequacy of this announcement. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence in the United States.
No prospectus, admission document or offering document has been or will be prepared in connection with the Placing. Any investment decision to buy securities in the Placing must be made solely on the basis of publicly available information. Such information is not the responsibility of and has not been independently verified by the Selling Shareholders, finnCap or any of their respective affiliates.
Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any State of the United States and the District of Columbia), Australia, Canada, the Republic of South Africa or Japan. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of US, Australian, Canadian, South African or Japanese securities laws.
The distribution of this announcement and the offering or sale of the Placing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action has been taken by the Selling Shareholders, finnCap or any of their respective affiliates that would, or which is intended to, permit a public offer of the Placing Shares in any jurisdiction, or possession or distribution of this announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to the Placing Shares, in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required by the Selling Shareholders and finnCap to inform themselves about and to observe any applicable restrictions.
No reliance may be placed, for any purposes whatsoever, on the information contained in this announcement or on its completeness and this announcement should not be considered a recommendation by the Company, the Selling Shareholders, finnCap or any of their respective affiliates in relation to any purchase of or subscription for securities of the Company. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company, the Selling Shareholders, finnCap or any of their respective directors, partners, officers, employees, advisers or any other persons as to the accuracy, fairness or sufficiency of the information or opinions contained in this announcement and none of the information contained in this announcement has been independently verified. Save in the case of fraud, no liability is accepted for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies in such information or opinions.
finnCap, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting only for the Selling Shareholders in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Selling Shareholders for providing the protections offered to the clients of finnCap, nor for providing advice in relation to the Placing or any matters referred to in this announcement, and apart from the responsibilities and liabilities (if any) imposed on finnCap by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed. Any other person in receipt of this announcement should seek their own independent legal, investment and tax advice as they see fit.
References to time in this announcement are to London time, unless otherwise stated. All times and dates in this announcement may be subject to amendment.
Certain statements in this announcement are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial consequences of the plans and events described herein. No one undertakes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this announcement. Statements contained in this announcement regarding past trends or events should not be taken as representation that such trends or events will continue in the future.
Neither the content of the Company's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks on the Company's website is incorporated in, or forms part of, this announcement.
Information to Distributors
Solely for the purposes of the product governance requirements contained within: (a) EU Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments, as amended ("MiFID II"); (b) Articles 9 and 10 of Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 supplementing MiFID II; and (c) local implementing measures (together, the "MiFID II Product Governance Requirements"), and disclaiming all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise, which any "manufacturer" (for the purposes of the MiFID II Product Governance Requirements) may otherwise have with respect thereto, the Placing Shares have been subject to a product approval process, which has determined that the Placing Shares are: (i) compatible with an end target market of (a) retail investors, (b) investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and (c) eligible counterparties, each as defined in MiFID II; and (ii) eligible for distribution through all distribution channels as are permitted by MiFID II (the "Target Market Assessment"). Notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, distributors should note that: the price of the Placing Shares may decline and investors could lose all or part of their investment; the Placing Shares offer no guaranteed income and no capital protection; and an investment in the Placing Shares is compatible only with investors who do not need a guaranteed income or capital protection, who (either alone or in conjunction with an appropriate financial or other adviser) are capable of evaluating the merits and risks of such an investment and who have sufficient resources to be able to bear any losses that may result therefrom. The Target Market Assessment is without prejudice to the requirements of any contractual, legal or regulatory selling restrictions in relation to the Placing. Furthermore, it is noted that, notwithstanding the Target Market Assessment, finnCap will only procure investors who meet the criteria of professional clients and eligible counterparties.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Target Market Assessment does not constitute: (a) an assessment of suitability or appropriateness for the purposes of MiFID II; or (b) a recommendation to any investor or group of investors to invest in, or purchase, or take any other action whatsoever with respect to the Placing Shares.
Each distributor is responsible for undertaking its own target market assessment in respect of the Placing Shares and determining appropriate distribution channels.