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Proposed Acquisition and Suspension of Trading

24 Jan 2022 07:00

RNS Number : 3060Z
NFT Investments PLC
24 January 2022
 

Press Release

 

24 January 2022

 

NFT Investments PLC

 

("NFT Investments" or the "Company")

 

Proposed acquisition of Pluto Digital for £96m

 

Suspension of share trading on Aquis

 

 

NFT Investments (AQSE: NFT), an incubator specialising in the market for non-fungible tokens ("NFTs"), is pleased to announce it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent ("LOI") for the acquisition of Pluto Digital PLC ("Pluto"), a crypto technology and venture company, for a consideration of £96 million.

 

The acquisition, which is conditional on shareholder approval, will create a significant global metaverse company and advance NFT's investments in the non-fungible tokens sector as the Pluto Ventures division has invested heavily in NFTs and NFT gaming.

 

Pluto is pioneering the next generation of crypto technologies in the decentralised finance and metaverse blockchain gaming sectors. Pluto already has a successful track record in execution in the 12 months since January 2021, including:

 

· Released a DeFi token which is trading on global crypto exchanges

· Established a venture capital arm, Pluto V, which has made investments in a range of Web3 projects and NFT assets which performed well in 2021

· Established an expert blockchain engineering team with technical staff coming from leading technology companies such as Red Hat and IBM

· Currently working on a DeFi application that can provide high value DeFi performance to both crypto users and institutional investors

· Has acquired a strategic shareholding in a UK gaming development studio Maze Theory, responsible for many successful international branded VR, PC/Console & mobile games including Dr Who and the Peaky Blinders franchises

· In addition, it is working alongside Maze Theory to release high quality games that incorporate token economics to empower the next generation of gamers. Blockchain games, also known as Play2Earn, have created substantial value led by Sky Mavis and Axie Infinite, with respective valuations of $3Bn and $19Bn

 

Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, NFT will acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Pluto for a consideration to be satisfied by the issue of 2.4 billion new ordinary shares in NFT (at 4p per new NFT share valuing Pluto Digital PLC at £96 million).

The acquisition will be a reverse takeover of NFT under the AQSE Rules and will be subject to the UK Takeover Code. The acquisition, if completed, will result in Pluto shareholders holding 70.5% of the enlarged business on completion. The acquisition is expected to be made by way of a scheme of arrangement by Pluto and will be conditional upon approval by shareholders of Pluto and the court.

NFT will have a 90-day exclusivity period to conduct due diligence on Pluto. Concurrent with, and as a condition to, the completion of the Acquisition, three Pluto team members will join the company as directors and Jonathan Bixby will continue to serve as Executive Chairman.

NFT will loan Pluto £5 million on signing the LOI, the proceeds of which will be used to complete the strategic acquisition of a number of technology companies in the metaverse sector. The loan will accrue 10% interest and will be repayable on 30 days' notice if Pluto terminates the transaction and on 90 days' notice if NFT terminates the transaction.

Further details of the acquisition will be provided in due course.

Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman of NFT Investments, owns 4,750,000 shares representing 0.75% of Pluto. He also holds 9,500,000 warrants exercisable at 3 pence and 14,250,000 warrants exercisable at 6 pence.

 

Mr Bixby owns 54,500,000 shares in NFT Investments representing 5.43% of the total shares in issue and 10,000,000 warrants exercisable at 1 penny.

 

Suspension of trading on Aquis

 

NFT Investments will suspend trading on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market until the proposed acquisition of Pluto is completed.

 

Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman of NFT Investments, said: "We are very excited about the prospects of Pluto and NFT merging to create a large global metaverse company. This is a transformational deal that will provide us with the scale to expand and diversify our investment portfolio in a rapidly growing sector and thereby create long term value for shareholders."

 

The directors of NFT Investments PLC accept responsibility for this announcement.

 

For further information, please contact: 

 

NFT Investments

Jonathan Bixby

Executive Chairman

Neil Thapar

Investor Relations

via Tancredi +44 207 887 7633

 

 

+44 7876 455 323

First Sentinel

Corporate Adviser

Brian Stockbridge

 

+44 7876 888 011

Tennyson Securities

Corporate Broker

Peter Krens

+44 207 186 9030

Novum Securities

Corporate Broker

Colin Rowbury

Jon Belliss

+44 207 399 9427

Tancredi Intelligent Communication

Media Relations (for NFT Investments)

Edward Daly

Charlie Hobbs

nftinvestments@tancredigroup.com

+44 7861 430 057

+44 7897 557 112

 

Luther Pendragon

Media Relations (for Pluto Digital Plc)

Harry Chathli

Alexis Gore

William Dobinson

0207 618 9151

 

 

NFT Investments plc is an incubator specialising in the market for non-fungible tokens ("NFTs") and is the first ever NFT vehicle to list in a major jurisdiction worldwide. The Company invests in a diversified portfolio of NFTs, cryptocurrency, and/or in companies or funds which have exposure to NFT or blockchain technology. The Company's leadership team have an extensive track record in the cryptocurrency sector and previously founded Argo Blockchain PLC, a global crypto miner. NFT Investments is headquartered in London, UK and its shares are listed on the Aquis Exchange Growth Market under the ticker symbol NFT. The Company's website is located at https://www.nftinvest.pro.

 

 

 

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