(Adds further detail, background)
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Felix Group PLC said it has conditionally
agreed to acquire Crawshaw, the holding company of Crawshaw Butchers Ltd, for
11.7 mln stg in a reverse takeover deal.
The consideration for the takeover will be satisfied through the issue to
the vendors of about 31.2 mln Felix shares, representing 66.8 pct of its
enlarged issued share capital.
Felix added, as part of the deal, it will raise a total of 4.0 mln stg
before expenses by issuing about 10.7 mln shares at 37.5 pence each to two
existing institutional shareholders.
The company also said it will change its name to Crawshaw Group PLC and
carry out a capital reorganisation.
Felix's trading subsidiary Felix Corporation entered administration last
year and since then the company has been classed as an 'investing company' while
seeking to acquire a trading business within the time frame required under AIM
rules.
Felix chairman Richard Rose, who is also chairman of Crawshaw, said: "The
board of Felix Group has determined that this deal is a good outcome for Felix
shareholders. Crawshaw is an excellent business, with a good business model
which provides a robust platform for future growth."
Separately, Felix Group said its pretax loss was 26.3 mln stg for the eight
months ended Jan 31 on a number of exceptional items and write downs mainly
related to the administration of Felix Corp.
The company said it has changed its year end to Jan 31 in anticipation of
the acquisition and hence, the results for the 8 month period to Jan 31 are not
directly comparable to the results for the 12 months to May 31, 2007. For the
year ended May 31, 2007, the company posted pretax loss of 436,000 stg.
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