Acquisition

3 Dec 2007 07:00

AEC Education plc03 December 2007 3 December 2007 AEC Education plc ("AEC" or "the Company") Acquisition of Educational Resources Pte Ltd AEC is pleased to announce the exchange of contracts to acquire the 65% ofEducational Resources Pte Ltd ("ER") that it does not already own ("theAcquisition") with effect from 4 January 2008. ER is incorporated in Singaporeand has four wholly owned subsidiaries. Following the Acquisition, AEC willhold 100% of the issued share capital of ER. ER has an open ended Agency Agreement with Education Development InternationalPlc ("EDI"), subject to performance criteria, to deliver the London Chamber ofCommerce and Industry ("LCCI") qualifications and currently has offices inSingapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. ER also has an Agreement with MYOB,the large Australian based competitor to the Sage accounting packages, todeliver qualifications for the training in the use of its products across theAsian markets. ER recorded 101,360 examination entries in Asia during year ended 30 September2007. 80,700 of these were from the core markets of Malaysia, Singapore and HongKong. AEC and ER currently operate in a range of mutual territories and the AECDirectors believe that this mutuality, combined with a range of marketingsynergies, provides the opportunity for greater productivity and growth for thecombined group. EDI holds 50.38% of the shares in ER and their Chairman, Chief Executive andFinance Director are on the board of ER. They will resign with effect from thedate of signing the Agreement (3 December 07). Liam Swords and David Ho of AECare also on the board of ER and will continue as directors into the future. EDI has been offered a seat on the Board of AEC which will be taken up at a timeto be agreed between the parties in the future. ER reported audited turnover and profit-after-tax of SGD3,622,663 (£1,215,783)and SGD281,443 (£94,454), respectively, for the year ended 30 September 2006 andhad audited net assets of SGD3,493,164 (£1,172,203) at 30 September 2006. The cost of the acquisition is approximately £410,000 which will be settled bythe issue of new AEC ordinary shares at a price of 11.5p per share. An initialissue of 2,593,750 shares will be made to the vendors of ER at the time ofcompletion and a further 950,000 shares will be issued as deferred considerationtwo years after completion. The 2,593,750 new ordinary shares issued as initial consideration will rank paripassu with the Company's existing ordinary shares of 10p each in issue. AECwill make application for admission to trading on AIM of these shares andtrading in the new ordinary shares is expected to commence on 5 January 2008. An exchange rate of £1=SGD2.98 has been used in this announcement. - End - For further information please visit www.aeceduplc.co.uk or enquire to: Mr Haider M SithawallaAEC Edu Group Pte LtdTel: (65) 6320 4879Fax: (65) 6224 8018Email: hmsithawalla@aec.edu.sg Nabarro Wells & Co LimitedTel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7400David Nabarro, Anthony Rowland About AEC Education Plc AEC is the UK holding company for a number of companies, founded in 1985 inSingapore and Malaysia that provide business educational services toapproximately 16,000 students in the Asia-Pacific region: the fastest-growingsource market for international students. The AEC Group offers class-based instruction at a large educational campus inSingapore's Bukit Merah District and distance learning up to postgraduate level.In addition, it provides degree qualifications on behalf of several leadinginternational universities, targeting the large volume of overseas students thatthe Singaporean government has announced in the Global Schoolhouse Vision itintends to increase. AEC's aim is to be a leader in quality education through facilitating learning,fostering creativity and developing knowledge, skills and confidence in itsstudents. Its receipt of four Singapore Quality Class Awards shows the Group'srecognition by the Singaporean Government as a prestigious and forward-movingcompany. In August 2006, AEC was awarded the CaseTrust for Private EducationOrganizations, a student protection scheme for foreign students. This is afurther step by AEC in its recognition as a quality provider in the educationindustry. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange