Wt Rene Etf Regulatory News (WREN)

1 Dec 2009 07:00



WREN EXTRA CARE GROUP PLC (AIM: WREN)

("Wren" or the "Group")

Wren Extra Care Group Plc, the AIM listed provider of retirement living, through a range of Extra Care and other services for the independent elderly

£3m Equity Purchase Agreement 

Company secures access to additional capital as it moves ExtraCare development 

programme to the next stage

Wren Extra Care Group Plc, an AIM listed provider of retirement living, through a range of Extra Care and other services for the independent elderly, is pleased to announce that it has today entered into a £3m Equity Purchase Agreement Facility ("EPA Facility") with Brittany Capital Management Ltd, a Bahamas-based fund advised by Southridge LLC (the "Investor"). The EPA Facility allows Wren, at its own discretion, to raise up to £3 million of equity capital in drawdowns over a three year period. 

Pursuant to each cash drawdown, new ordinary shares of 10p each will be issued by Wren to the Investor at a discount of approximately 10 per cent. to the market price prior to drawdown. The maximum size of a drawdown is £100,000 or, if lower, an amount equal to 50 per cent. of the value of average trading volume in Wren shares over the ten trading days prior to drawdown. Since the use of the EPA facility is entirely at Wren's discretion, the Company can control the timing, size and pricing levels for any drawdown and is not obliged to utilise the EPA Facility.

The Group now has a pipeline of 177 units with consent following the recent granting of planning consent for 50 'Extra Care' units in Wallington, Surrey. Securing access to this additional source of capital is timely as Wren finalises plans to move to the next stage in the development and completion of its ExtraCare pipeline.

Before the first drawdown under the EPA Facility, the Company is to issue 500,000 warrants each to subscribe for one new ordinary share at a price of 10p per share ("Warrants") to the Investor. The Warrants will be exercisable at any time during the subsequent five years and will not be admitted to trading on any market. 

Paul Treadaway, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, of Wren Extra Care Group plc stated:

"We are extremely pleased to have attracted a new institutional investor to the Wren growth story, particularly so given the selectiveness of investors in the current environment. 

Wren's goal in securing the EPA Facility is to have in place a facility that will enable the Group to raise capital efficiently at higher valuations, as it moves its ExtraCare development programme on to the next stage and communicates positive progress. Having observed the successful use of the EPA facility by a number of other AIM companies, we are confident that this facility will provide a useful funding instrument for Wren".

Stephen Hicks, Chairman of Southridge LLC, added:

"Southridge's investment philosophy is focused on finding well run and exciting business opportunities globally. Accordingly we are delighted to announce this relationship with Wren Extra Care Group Plc. We look to provide our portfolio companies with a wide array of financial services including the ability to raise capital at their behest on preferential terms. We believe we have accomplished this goal through the EPA Facility, which will allow Wren to continue to execute their strategy in what is clearly an attractive and high growth space in the UK." 

-ENDS-

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

Southridge LLC was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Connecticut and New York in the US. Southridge Asset Management is an SEC registered Investment Advisor and offers a number of investment funds in areas such as structured finance, quantitive method and asset-based lending including Southridge Partners LP, Double Alpha Group and Southridge Real Estate Partners. Southridge Investment Group LLC is also SEC registered and offers a full service brokerage business including corporate finance, fixed income and institutional sales and credit/structured products. 

Funds advised by Southridge LLC have previously provided similar facilities to other AIM companies and in aggregate have provided over $1.7 billion in capital to growing companies in the United States and throughout the world.

For further information please visit www.southridgellc.com