9 October
2024
Witan Investment Trust
plc
Legal Entity
Identifier: 213800XMW68XFT6D1X59
Result of Second General Meeting,
Suspension and Cancellation of Shares
and Scheme Entitlements
In connection with the proposals for
the combination of the assets of Witan Investment Trust plc
(the "Company") with
Alliance Trust PLC ("ATST")
(to be renamed Alliance Witan PLC), by means of a scheme of
reconstruction and winding up of the Company under section 110 of
the Insolvency Act 1986 (the "Scheme"), the Board is pleased to
announce the results of the Second General Meeting and the Scheme
entitlements.
Defined terms used in this
announcement have the meanings given in the Company's circular to
Shareholders dated 12 September 2024 (the "Circular"). The Circular is available
for viewing at the National Storage Mechanism which is available
at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism and
on the Company's website at www.witan.com
Result of Second General Meeting
The Company announces that the
special resolution to place the Company into members' voluntary
liquidation was voted on and approved by Shareholders at the Second
General Meeting held at 9.30 a.m. this morning. Accordingly, Derek
Neil Hyslop and Richard Peter Barker (together the "Liquidators"), both licensed insolvency
practitioners of Ernst & Young LLP, have been appointed as
joint liquidators of the Company for the purposes of the winding-up
and distributing the assets of the Company in accordance with the
Scheme. Details of the number of votes cast for, against and
withheld in respect of the resolution, which was held on a poll, is
set out below and will also be published on the Company's website
at www.witan.com.
Resolution
|
Votes for
|
%
|
Votes against
|
%
|
Total votes cast
|
% Issued Share
Capital
|
Votes withheld
|
To place the Company into members'
voluntary liquidation and appoint the Liquidators
|
118,562,449
|
98.53%
|
1,768,564
|
1.47%
|
120,331,013
|
18.66%
|
457,705
|
The full text of the Resolution can be found in
the notice of Second General Meeting contained in the
Circular.
For the purposes of section 341 of
the Companies Act 2006, the votes validly cast are expressed in the
table above as a percentage of the Company's total voting rights as
at 6.30 p.m. on 7 October 2024 (644,998,651), being the time at
which a shareholder had to be registered in the Company's Register
in order to vote at the Second General
Meeting. A vote "withheld" is not a vote in
law and has not been counted as a vote "for" or "against" a
Resolution.
At the date of this announcement, there are
1,000,355,000 Ordinary Shares in issue which, other than the
406,456,349 Ordinary Shares held in treasury, carry one vote for
every Ordinary Share held, and 2,555,000 Preference Shares,
carrying 20 votes for every Preference Share held. Therefore, as at
the date of this announcement the number of voting rights in the
Company is 644,998,651.
Suspension and
Cancellation of Shares
The Company's Reclassified Shares were suspended
from listing on the Official List and the Company's Register closed
at 7.30 a.m. this morning, 9 October 2024, in anticipation of the
Second General Meeting.
Admission and dealings in New ATST Shares will
commence at 8.00 a.m. on 10 October 2024. The Company, through its
advisers, has notified the Financial Conduct Authority and the
London Stock Exchange of the Company's intention to cancel the
Company's admission of the Reclassified Shares and the Preference
Shares to listing and trading at 8.00 a.m. on 10 October
2024.
Scheme
Entitlements
As at the Calculation Date the entitlements
calculated in accordance with the terms of the Scheme were as
follows:
· WTAN FAV per
Share: 286.293752 pence
· Cash Pool NAV per
Share: 278.363026 pence
· ATST FAV per
Share: 1,274.592460 pence
Therefore, Ordinary Shareholders will receive
the following cash and/or number of New ATST Shares.
For Ordinary Shareholders that elected (or are
deemed to have elected) to receive New ATST Shares each
Reclassified Share with "A" rights attached to it will receive
0.224615 New ATST Shares.
Fractions of New ATST Shares will not be issued
under the Scheme and entitlements to such New ATST Shares will be
rounded down to the nearest whole number. No cash payment shall be
made or returned in respect of any fractional entitlements, which
will be retained for the benefit of ATST.
For Ordinary Shareholders that elected for the
Cash Option each Reclassified Share with "B" rights attached to it
will receive 278.363026 pence in cash
As noted in the Circular, the Directors have set
aside sufficient assets in the Liquidation Pool to meet all
estimated liabilities and contingencies, including the costs of
implementing the Scheme and the prior entitlements on a liquidation
of the Preference Shares. The Directors have also provided in the
Liquidation Pool for a Liquidators' Retention of £100,000, which
they, together with the Liquidators, consider sufficient to meet
any contingent unknown or unascertained liabilities of the
Company.
The Liquidation Pool (including the Liquidators'
Retention) will be applied by the Liquidators in discharging all
current and future actual and contingent liabilities of the
Company. To the extent that some or all of the Liquidation Pool
remains when the Liquidators are in a position to close the
liquidation, such amount will be returned to Ordinary Shareholders
on the Register as at the Effective Date. If, however, any such
amount payable to any Ordinary Shareholder is less than £5.00
(after taking into account any expenses associated with making the
distribution), it will not be paid to the Ordinary Shareholders but
instead will be paid by the Liquidators to the Nominated
Charity.
In accordance with the Circular, Ordinary
Shareholders who elected, or were deemed to have elected, for the
Rollover Option will receive their New ATST Shares via CREST as
soon as is reasonably practicable on 10 October 2024 and, in
relation to Ordinary Shareholders who held their Ordinary Shares in
certificated form, share certificates in respect of New ATST Shares
will be despatched in the week commencing 14 October 2024. Ordinary
Shareholders who elected for the Cash Option will have their
entitlements despatched in the week commencing 14 October 2024 via
CREST and/or cheque and/or electronic payment to the Ordinary
Shareholder's mandated bank or building society account as recorded
by the Registrar.
Following the appointment of the Liquidators,
all further enquiries regarding the Company should be made to the
Liquidators, whose contact details are below.
For further information
please contact:
|
Liquidators
|
+44 13
1460 2397
Witan@parthenon.ey.com
|
Derek Neil Hyslop
Richard Peter Barker
|
|