Offer to shareholders

19 Mar 2008 17:02

Hygea VCT plc19 March 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 19 MARCH 2008 HYGEA VCT ('Hygea' or the 'Company') Offer to shareholders The Board of Hygea has, on 18 March 2008, posted a letter to shareholderssetting out their proposals to raise additional funds for the Company to provideit with additional investment monies for existing investee companies and workingcapital by means of an offer to shareholders ("the Offer"). At the last Annual General Meeting, the shareholders authorised the Board toissue additional shares in the capital of the Company up to a maximum of 10% ofthe issued share capital. Accordingly, the Company are able to issue up to750,000 new Ordinary Shares at an issue price will be 50p per share. If theissue is fully subscribed the Company will receive in excess of £360,000 net ofexpenses. Details of the Offer: 1. the Offer will close on Wednesday 30 April 2008 at 5pm and an allotment willbe made then, but an earlier allotment will also be made by the Board onWednesday 2 April 2008 at 5pm in respect of received application forms in orderto assist those earlier subscribers looking to qualify for tax relief in respectof the 2007/08 tax year; 2. although the Board is discussing the Offer with certain outside investors,existing shareholders will be given priority at the first and second allotmentstage in respect of allocations made at each time; 3. the majority of Directors intend to apply for shares and this may be inexcess of their existing percentage ownership of the Company; 4. the audited accounts of the Company for the year ended 31st December 2007 areexpected to be published on or around Tuesday 18th March; 5. since the aggregate value of shares offered is less than €2.5m, there is norequirement under Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 for aprospectus to be issued. Application will be made to the UK Listing Authority for the new OrdinaryShares, which will rank pari passu, with all existing Ordinary Shares to beadmitted to the Official List. Application will also be made to London StockExchange plc for the new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on its marketfor listed securities. It is expected that admission to trading will becomeeffective and will commence within 10 days of both the allotments made on 2April 2008 and 30 April 2008. Expected timetable: Offer closes 30 April 2008First Allotment of new ordinary shares 2 April 2008Final Allotment of new ordinary shares 30 April 2008Dealings in new ordinary shares commence Within 10 days of each allotmentDefinitive share certificates dispatched Within 15 days of each allotment Enquiries: Charles Breese, Hygea VCT plc on 01280 703482 or larpentnewton@btinternet.com Roland Cornish, Beaumont Cornish Limited on 020 7628 3396 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange