Wilmington Regulatory News (WIL)

27 Nov 2007 07:01

Wilmington Group Plc27 November 2007 27 November 2007 WILMINGTON GROUP PLC WILMINGTON ACQUIRES MATCHETT Wilmington Group plc ("Wilmington") is pleased to announce the acquisition of amajority stake in The Matchett Group Limited ('Matchett'), a professionaltraining business that was previously owned by Alastair Matchett and others. Matchett provides training to professional markets, with a particular emphasison annual graduate induction courses for the major banks both in the UK and US.Alastair Matchett, aged 38, the Managing Director who is highly regarded withinthe financial sector will retain a significant equity interest in Matchett as heleads its development within CLT Group. The acquisition of Matchett has been effected by Wilmington's wholly ownedsubsidiary CLT Group, which has acquired 80% of the fully diluted share capitalfor an initial cash consideration of £5.7m and repayment of existing debt of£3.9m. Wilmington will fund the consideration from existing debt facilities.Further consideration is payable in respect of the 80% stake dependent onprofits during the year to 31 December 2008. The aggregate amount payable forthe 80% stake, comprising the further consideration together with the initialconsideration and repayment of debt, is capped at £15m. The transaction isexpected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership. Put and call options have been entered into by CLT Group whereby the 20%shareholders of Matchett can require CLT Group to acquire their shares for aconsideration based on a formula linked to future profits. Similarly from 2015,CLT Group can require any remaining minority shareholders to sell their sharesto CLT Group, again based on a formula linked to profits. The amount payableunder the arrangements is capped at £21m (including the initial and deferredconsideration and debt repayments). During the year ended 31 December 2006, the period of the latest auditedaccounts, Matchett made profits before interest, tax and amortisation of £1.2mon turnover of £7.1m. At 31 December 2006, it had audited gross assets of £8.3m. Charles Brady, CEO of Wilmington, commented "Matchett Group will provide a natural fit with both the market place andproducts of CLT Group, thus allowing us to exploit direct synergies between theexisting CLT Group and Matchett. We are already seeing the results of the substantial investments in regulatoryand compliance training that we have made, with major contracts being awarded toCLT Group, most recently from the Singapore Government. The acquisition ofMatchett will enhance the product range of the group and enable us to provide awider range of support to existing and new clients, while creating opportunitiesin a wider range of jurisdictions". Ends Enquiries: Wilmington Group plcCharles Brady, Chief Executive 020 7422 6800 Weber Shandwick FinancialNick Oborne/Georgia Dempsey/Charlie Hooper 020 7067 0700 Notes to Editors Wilmington Group plc is one of the UK's leading providers of information andtraining for professional business markets. The Group provides training,arranges industry events and publishes magazines, directories, databases andspecial reports focused primarily on its two principal sectors of Legal &Regulatory, and Business Information which comprises Healthcare and Mediabusinesses. Capitalised at approximately £185 million, Wilmington floated on theLondon Stock Exchange in 1995. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange