NOT FOR
RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY
OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO
WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF
SUCH JURISDICTION
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT A PROSPECTUS, A PROSPECTUS
EQUIVALENT DOCUMENT OR A PROSPECTUS EXEMPT DOCUMENT AND LTG
SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY DECISION IN RELATION TO THE
ROLLOVER SECURITIES EXCEPT ON THE BASIS OF INFORMATION IN THE
SCHEME DOCUMENT WHICH IS PROPOSED TO BE PUBLISHED IN DUE
COURSE
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
4 December
2024
RECOMMENDED
ACQUISITION
of
Learning
Technologies Group plc
by
Leopard UK
Bidco Limited
(a newly
formed company owned by funds managed by GASC APF, L.P. and certain
of its managed funds (including Atlantic Park), accounts and/or
affiliates ("General Atlantic"))
to be
implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of
the Companies Act 2006
Summary
·
The board of Leopard UK Bidco Limited ("Bidco") and the independent directors
of Learning Technologies Group plc ("LTG") are pleased to announce that they
have reached agreement on the terms and conditions of a recommended
acquisition by Bidco for the entire issued, and to be issued,
ordinary share capital of LTG.
·
Under the terms of the Acquisition, each LTG Shareholder will
be entitled to receive:
for each LTG Share: 100 pence in cash
(the "Cash Offer")
· The
cash consideration payable per LTG Share in connection with the
Cash Offer represents a premium of approximately:
·
34 per cent. to the Closing Price of 74.9 pence per LTG Share
on 26 September 2024 (being the last Business Day before the
commencement of the Offer Period);
· 40
per cent. to the volume-weighted average price of 71.2 pence per
LTG Share for the one-month period ended 26 September 2024 (being
the last Business Day before the commencement of the Offer
Period);
· 37
per cent. to the volume-weighted average price of 73.0 pence per
LTG Share for the three-month period ended 26 September 2024 (being
the last Business Day before the commencement of the Offer Period);
and
·
44 per cent. to the volume weighted
average price of 69.7 pence per LTG Share
for the period from the announcement
of LTG's trading update on 24 July 2024 (in respect of the
six months ended 30 June 2024) to 26 September 2024
(being the last Business Day before the commencement of the
Offer Period).
· The
Cash Offer values the entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary
share capital of LTG at approximately £802.4 million on a fully
diluted basis.
· The
Cash Offer represents an implied enterprise value multiple of 9.4
times LTG's Adjusted EBIT[1] of £88.7
million for the full year ended 31 December 2023.
·
As an alternative to the Cash Offer, eligible LTG
Shareholders may elect, in respect of all or part of their holding
of LTG Shares, to ultimately receive either (but not both) of the
following types of Rollover Securities, in each case in lieu of any
cash consideration under the Cash Offer:
for each LTG Share: 1 Rollover Ordinary
Share ("Alternative Offer 1")
or
for each LTG Share: 0.8252 of a Rollover
Ordinary Share and 0.2000 of a B Preference Share ("Alternative
Offer 2"),
each an "Alternative Offer" and together, the
"Alternative
Offers".
· The
Rollover Securities will not be listed. The Alternative Offers (and
the issuance of the relevant Rollover Securities to eligible LTG
Shareholders) are subject to (amongst other things) the receipt of
valid elections from eligible electing LTG Shareholders (including
completion of "know your customer" checks) as well as the
Alternative Offer Cap, Scaling Back and the U.S. Holders Cap. LTG
Shareholders who do not elect for an Alternative Offer, or who do
not make a valid election (and/or do not complete the relevant
"know your customer" checks), will receive the full amount of the
cash consideration due to them pursuant to the Cash Offer in
respect of their entire holding of LTG Shares.
·
Further information in relation to the
Alternative Offers and the Rollover Securities (including
disadvantages and advantages, risk factors and other
investment considerations, the key rights and restrictions
attaching to the Rollover Securities, as well as the further terms
and conditions of the Alternative Offers) and the Topco Group, is
set out in paragraphs 4 and 13 and
Appendix IV (and will be included in the Scheme Document). The
Topco Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are also
available on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
Background to
and reasons for the Acquisition
·
General Atlantic has a long and successful track record of
investing in the technology sector and it has leveraged this
experience to help develop some of the most widely known online
learning platforms in the e-learning industry, including Duolingo,
Kahoot!, Fluency Academy, Arco, Crehana, Panorama Education,
Articulate, Zoomin, Quizlet, Unacademy, Ruangguru and Little Golden
Star.
·
Since its founding in 1980, General Atlantic has
invested approximately US$67 billion in more than 540 growth
companies, including approximately US$34 billion in around 300
technology companies globally, including across North America and
the United Kingdom. General Atlantic has built its investment
strategy on supporting portfolio companies to enable growth and
take advantage of development opportunities by providing strong
financial backing as well as leveraging General Atlantic's various
strategic resources, wide network and deep knowledge
base.
·
Atlantic Park is General Atlantic's
Strategic Capital Solutions franchise. Atlantic Park is focused on
creating flexible and sustainable capital structures to support
high quality companies, management teams and entrepreneurs to
achieve their long-term objectives and deliver growth in a
sustainable way. Atlantic Park's mandates are highly flexible in
nature and can take many forms (including investments across the
capital structure).
·
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that LTG has built a
portfolio of high quality assets across technology, software and
services in the workplace digital training and learning and talent
development market, with a diversified geographic footprint,
customer base and end-market.
·
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that, with the appropriate
investment and optimisation of the Group's portfolio, LTG is well
placed to maintain and improve its position within its core
markets.
·
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that the rapidly evolving
market, including the impact of lower custom content demand and
human resources enterprise software consolidation as well as the
expected disruptive impact on the ecosystem from the emergence of
generative AI, will require further investment and optimisation of
the Group's portfolio (in addition to that contemplated by the
Group's previously announced active portfolio management strategy).
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that the Group will face greater
competitive pressure in the future, but will also benefit from
increasing training requirements for large corporate customers as
they adapt to AI and other challenges throughout their
organisations and markets. These opportunities will require further
investments in the Group's product solutions and allow for
adaptation of the Group's client proposition. General Atlantic and
Bidco therefore believe that LTG requires a supportive partner with
deep expertise in the technology sector to navigate this changing
backdrop and take advantage of the opportunities it may
present.
· In the context of
continued market and macro uncertainty, General Atlantic and Bidco
believe that the next stages of LTG's journey and the execution of
its strategy can be best delivered as a private company without the
external pressures placed on a publicly owned company (including
frequent public financial reporting requirements and the associated
governance, cost and regulatory burdens).
· Following the
Acquisition becoming Effective, General Atlantic and Bidco intend
to accelerate LTG's strategy. As a private company, LTG will be
better positioned and have greater flexibility, in a dynamic and
fast changing industry, to invest in the products and technology
required to face increasing competition from peers and offset the
potentially disruptive impact of AI and other challenges. The Group
will also be better placed to optimise its portfolio of its assets
and strategy in order to support the growth of the Group and
stabilise the businesses within its portfolio which are currently
in decline.
· The
Group will also benefit from the support of General Atlantic and be
able to leverage its deep experience within the technology and
business services sectors, its extensive network and
strategy-enhancing value creation team to capitalise on the
potential opportunities that the market environment presents.
Therefore, both the benefits of private ownership and having
General Atlantic as a partner will help the Group to accelerate its
strategy and maintain and enhance its position across its core
markets for the benefit of all of the Group's customers and
employees.
Recommendation
Cash
Offer
·
The Independent LTG Directors, who have been so advised by
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis as to the financial terms of the
Cash Offer, consider the terms of the Cash Offer to be fair and
reasonable. In providing their advice to the Independent LTG
Directors, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis have taken into account
the commercial assessments of the Independent LTG Directors.
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis are providing independent
financial advice to the Independent LTG Directors for the purposes
of Rule 3 of the Code.
· Accordingly, the
Independent LTG Directors intend to unanimously recommend that LTG
Shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and
the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept such
Offer), as those Independent LTG Directors who hold or are
beneficially entitled to LTG Shares have each irrevocably
undertaken to do in respect of all of their (and their connected
persons') LTG Shares being, in aggregate, a total of 13,897,147 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 1.75 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement).
· On the basis
that the proposal from General Atlantic reflects Andrew Brode and
Jonathan Satchell each providing an irrevocable undertaking to
support the Acquisition and to elect for an Alternative Offer in
respect of all or substantially all of their shareholdings, the LTG
Board formed an independent committee comprising all LTG Directors
excluding Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell to consider the
proposal. The Independent LTG Directors benefitted from the
experience of both executive and non-executive members of the LTG
Board and the independent committee includes all independent
members of the LTG Board. The Independent LTG Directors considered
the proposal from General Atlantic and Bidco and the financial
advice received from Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis to assess
their recommendation. Neither Andrew Brode nor Jonathan Satchell
has participated in the decision to make the recommendation
referred to above.
Alternative
Offers
·
As noted above, Bidco is also separately making available the
Alternative Offers and eligible LTG Shareholders may elect for
either (but not both) of the Alternative Offers in respect of some
or all of their LTG Shares as an alternative to the cash
consideration payable in connection with the Cash Offer.
·
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis are unable to advise the
Independent LTG Directors as to whether or not the financial terms
of either Alternative Offer are fair and reasonable. This is
because of the significant and variable impact the disadvantages
and advantages that the Alternative Offers may have for individual
LTG Shareholders as described in paragraphs 4 and 13 and Appendix
IV. In addition, neither Goldman Sachs nor Deutsche Numis has had
any involvement in the development and/or validation of any
financial projections for Topco, the Topco Group or the Group. As a
result, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis have been unable to assess
any plans that Topco may have for the development of Topco, the
Topco Group or the Group to the degree necessary to form an
assessment of the value of either Alternative Offer.
· Accordingly, the Independent LTG Directors are
unable to form an opinion as to whether or not the terms of either
Alternative Offer are fair and reasonable. The Independent LTG
Directors are not making any recommendation to LTG Shareholders as
to whether or not they should elect for an Alternative Offer and
they are not making any recommendation to LTG Shareholders between
Alternative Offer 1 and Alternative Offer 2.
·
In reviewing the terms of the Alternative Offers, the
Independent LTG Directors, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis have
identified certain key disadvantages and advantages of electing for
either of the Alternative Offers, which are set out in further
detail in paragraph 13.
·
The Independent LTG Directors have not entered into any
irrevocable undertakings to elect for an Alternative Offer. The
intended elections of the Independent LTG Directors in respect of
their own beneficial holdings of LTG Shares (if any) will be set
out in the Scheme Document.
· As noted in
paragraph 13, Andrew Brode (Chairman and a non-executive director
of LTG) and Jonathan Satchell (Chief Executive Officer and an
executive director of LTG), each of whom are Non-Independent LTG
Directors, have each irrevocably undertaken to elect for an
Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of their
current holdings of LTG Shares, reflective of the proposal from
General Atlantic that they should hold an investment in the Group
going forward. Each of their personal circumstances mean that they
are willing to hold (and are capable of holding) unlisted,
non-transferrable instruments, and these factors outweigh the
disadvantages set out in paragraph 4 and the risk factors set out
in paragraph 13. Andrew Brode intends to elect for
Alternative Offer 1 and Jonathan Satchell intends to elect for an
Alternative Offer. Jonathan Satchell's intentions with respect to
which Alternative Offer he will elect for will be set out in the
Scheme Document.
·
The Independent LTG Directors consider that, in deciding
whether or not to elect for an Alternative Offer in respect of all
or part of their LTG Shares held and whether they are a suitable
investment, LTG Shareholders should consider carefully the risk
factors set out in paragraph 13 as well
as the disadvantages and advantages of electing for either of the
Alternative Offers (including, but not limited to, those set out
below) in light of their own personal circumstances and investment
objectives. LTG Shareholders should also ascertain whether
acquiring or holding Rollover Securities is affected by the laws of
the relevant jurisdiction in which they reside. LTG Shareholders
are, therefore, strongly recommended to seek their own independent
financial, tax and legal advice in light of their own personal
circumstances and investment objectives before deciding whether to
elect for an Alternative Offer in respect of all or part of their
holding of LTG Shares. Any decision to elect for an Alternative
Offer should be based on any such independent financial, tax and
legal advice and full consideration of the information in this
Announcement (including as set out in Appendix IV), the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles (each available on
Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/)
and in the Scheme Document.
Background to
and reasons for the recommendation
LTG
today and its strategic transformation
·
LTG is a leader in the learning and talent development
market. LTG's purpose is to help its customers to transform through
their people, acting as a strategic partner through a combination
of consulting, services and technologies. Initially an e-learning
business, LTG has been through a strategic transformation over the
last ten years to build a leading position within the evolving
learning and development sector accelerated by a track record of
successful acquisitions. LTG's customer base now includes over
6,000 organisations, addressing a dynamic business landscape and
offering one of the most comprehensive ranges of services and
technology within the sector. LTG is active with approximately 125
of Fortune 500 companies and helps businesses to address the global
skills gap. In the financial year ended 31 December 2023, LTG
enabled learning for more than 200 million people and now employs
around 5,000 people in 36 locations across North and South America,
Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, through a
portfolio shaped into focused business units around Content &
Services and Software & Platforms, with a mission of being a
world leading talent transformation company.
·
LTG's "buy and build" strategy has created a learning
technologies business with a portfolio of attractive, high margin
services and software businesses. While LTG has delivered
attractive overall revenue growth over the last ten years,
significant focus has been placed on strengthening the operating
model of the businesses acquired and driving efficiencies and
margin improvements across all businesses within the Group. As a
result, LTG has a strong track record of driving performance and
enhancing returns by growing profits. This record has led to LTG
delivering meaningful value for shareholders, through a total
shareholder return CAGR of over 28 per cent. for the period from
LTG's IPO in 2013 to 26 September 2024 (being the last Business Day
prior to the announcement of a possible offer for LTG by General
Atlantic).
Challenging macroeconomic environment
and structural influences impacting LTG's recent
performance
· Following over a dozen
acquisitions, including the transformative acquisitions of
PeopleFluent, Open LMS, Bridge and GP Strategies, as well as new
brand launches, LTG set out a new clear strategy and financial
targets for the Group at its 2022 Capital Markets Day, for the
period to the end of the 2025 financial year. In the context of a
dynamic and challenging macroeconomic and uncertain business
environment, LTG has not been able to deliver these targets both in
terms of organic revenue expectations and inorganic growth through
an acquisition pipeline.
·
The learning and development sector is correlated with the
economic cycle and the recent macroeconomic environment has been
challenging. As the global economy has delivered slower economic
growth, companies and organisations have sought to reduce
discretionary costs and this has impacted learning and development
budgets which have been under pressure. In addition, LTG's organic
performance in recent years has been impacted by certain structural
influences, including consolidation within the broader human
resources enterprise software sector impacting the independent
provision of learning management systems, the evolution of the
application of AI within talent development reducing custom content
creation, and a normalisation and reduction of spending by
companies on learning and development following significant
increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
·
Growth through acquisitions has been a key pillar of the
delivery of the Group's overall growth across capabilities,
revenues and profits. The Group has sought to acquire businesses
with complementary capabilities that it identified as being
under-managed, and has then sought to increase their financial
performance through use of best practices and integration with
other businesses within LTG. However, the availability of suitable
acquisition targets which would have a meaningful impact on the
Group's growth prospects at attractive valuation levels has
dramatically slowed. At the same time, the Group's ability to
finance these acquisitions has been notably weakened through a
combination of the structurally higher interest rate environment
and the weakening of LTG's share price and valuation rating which
removed its ability to raise equity capital. As a result, the
growth prospects of LTG are now expected to be primarily driven
through organic growth and smaller, bolt-on acquisitions, rather
than transformational acquisitions delivering meaningful acquired
growth.
·
Within the context of the recent macroeconomic environment,
LTG's greater reliance on organic rather than acquired growth, as
well as previously announced operational and governance issues in
the GP Strategies business, LTG's recent performance has been
impacted with declines in revenue, lower growth in profitability
and lower expectations for future performance. This impact on LTG's
ability to deliver growth, along with a perception of some
portfolio complexity given both the services and software
components to the businesses, has led to a significant reduction in
the level of its valuation rating in line with its growth adjusted
valuation rating.
Outlook for LTG
·
Despite the recent performance trends for LTG being below
expectations, with two per cent. organic revenue decline in 2023
financial year and approximately four per cent. organic revenue
decline in the first half of the 2024 financial year, the LTG Board
believes that the learning and development sector remains an
attractive sector on a long-term basis through the cycle. LTG's
strategy positions the business well to deliver growth and
attractive value for shareholders over the medium to long-term such
that, as the macroeconomic environment improves, the strengths of
the LTG businesses and Group strategy will enable LTG to capture
the many opportunities available to it.
·
The learning and development sector has experienced important
structural changes through the growing emergence of AI and what
this means for the provision and usage of services. LTG believes
that AI represents both a significant opportunity and a challenge
for the Group as it will impact the nature, content and provision
model of services to customers. While AI provides the opportunity
for substantial efficiencies in the provision of content and
services, it may also mean that some services and activities
provided by LTG will be challenged, adding to the current pressure
on demand and pricing for custom content work. The impact of these
trends on LTG has been to create uncertainty on the outlook and
business model across certain aspects of the Group and is expected
to increase the levels of investment required to capture the
opportunities created by AI. Without such levels of investment, the
outlook for LTG would be more uncertain.
·
While the LTG Board believes in the Group's strategic
direction, it is cautious as to the pace at which LTG will be able
to deliver its strategy and the associated value to LTG
Shareholders. Key areas of uncertainty in the execution of LTG's
strategic plan and the delivery of value over the longer-term
include the timing of the macroeconomic cycle and its
susceptibility to external shocks and influences, the pace of the
structural decline of certain businesses such as PeopleFluent and
Reflektive, the potential threats in the industry (including the
emergence and path of AI, lower custom content demand, as well as
human resources enterprise software consolidation), and LTG's
ability to execute on its acquisition strategy and drive value
through inorganic growth given LTG's current share price and
valuation rating.
·
The LTG Board remains confident in the short-term delivery of
its expectations for the financial performance of LTG as set out at
the time of the announcement on 17 September 2024 of the interim
results for the six months ended 30 June 2024. The LTG Board is
also confident in the longer-term potential opportunity to deliver
value to LTG Shareholders through the strength of LTG's businesses,
their strategies and positioning. However, risks and uncertainties
remain in the delivery of this approach and the LTG Board remains
cautious on the timing and level of delivery over the medium to
long-term outlook for LTG.
Proposal from General Atlantic and the
process to consider the Cash Offer
·
The LTG Board did not solicit an offer for LTG. However, the
LTG Board regularly considers all options for driving and improving
shareholder value, as highlighted by the recent sales of the
VectorVMS business to PIXID Group for US$50 million and the Lorien
Engineering Solutions business to NIRAS Group for US$21.4 million.
The initial unsolicited proposals received from General Atlantic
for LTG were not at a level that the LTG Board felt adequately
reflected an appropriate valuation of LTG and its future prospects.
In assessing the proposals received from General Atlantic, the LTG
Board undertook a thorough process to compare the value of the
proposals with the alternatives for LTG Shareholders. The process
undertaken by the LTG Board included:
·
the receipt of advice from independent financial and legal
advisers throughout the process;
·
consideration of the outlook and strategic plan for LTG in
detail. This process considered the short, medium and long-term
perspectives on outlook for LTG's businesses; and
·
detailed process and valuation assessments of the outlook for
LTG, using a number of valuation methodologies that assess
shorter-term and longer-term perspectives on LTG. This included
discounted cash flow analysis, present value of future share price
analysis as well as a comparison to comparable current and
long-term trading and precedent transaction valuation multiples
experienced over extended cycles.
·
The valuation assessment of LTG focused on comparing the
value delivered to LTG Shareholders over a reasonable period of
time on a risk adjusted outlook for LTG relative to the value of
the Cash Offer. The assessment focused on long-term and medium-term
valuation analysis to ensure that it fully captured the recovery of
LTG from both an earnings and valuation rating perspective through
the macroeconomic cycle and delivery of the Group's
strategy.
·
General Atlantic made a number of proposals over an extended
period of several months. While this was a period where LTG was
managing a combination of a challenging downward trading
environment and complex stakeholder relationships, the level of
General Atlantic's proposal and the implied valuation rating
reached a level where the LTG Board felt that more detailed
engagement was appropriate. In order to facilitate General Atlantic
reaching the level of this proposal and the improvement in the
implied valuation rating, selected due diligence information,
including access to LTG's management, was provided by LTG to
General Atlantic.
·
On the basis that the proposal from General Atlantic reflects
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell each providing an irrevocable
undertaking to support the Acquisition and to elect for an
Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of their
shareholdings, as noted above, the LTG Board formed an independent
committee comprising all LTG Directors excluding Andrew Brode and
Jonathan Satchell to consider the proposal. The Independent LTG
Directors benefitted from the experience of both executive and
non-executive members of the LTG Board and the independent
committee includes all independent members of the LTG Board. The
Independent LTG Directors considered the proposal from General
Atlantic and Bidco and the financial advice received from Goldman
Sachs and Deutsche Numis to assess their recommendation. Neither
Andrew Brode nor Jonathan Satchell has participated in the decision
to make the recommendation referred to above.
Considerations in respect of the Cash
Offer
·
In considering the financial terms of the Cash Offer and
determining whether they reflect an appropriate valuation of LTG
and its future prospects, the Independent LTG Directors took into
account a number of factors including that:
·
the Cash Offer reflects the strength of LTG and its future
prospects, including a return to revenue growth and full
contribution from LTG's business with the United States Government,
and provides an opportunity for LTG Shareholders to realise, in
cash, the value of their investments at a fair and reasonable
value;
·
the certainty of the value of the Cash Offer should be
weighed against the inherent uncertainty of the delivery of future
value that exists in the business, in particular given the current
uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and the delivery of
LTG's strategic plan;
·
the impact of a higher cost of capital environment
fundamentally impacting general business outlook, valuation
ratings, ability to raise equity financing and range of organic and
inorganic opportunities available to LTG in the future;
·
the terms of the Cash Offer represent an attractive premium
of 34 per cent. to the Closing Price on 26 September 2024 (being
the last Business Day before the commencement of the Offer Period),
40 per cent. to the volume weighted average price in the month to
26 September 2024, and 44 per cent. to the volume weighted average
price from the announcement of LTG's trading update on 24 July 2024
in respect of the six months ended 30 June 2024 to 26 September
2024;
·
the terms of the Cash Offer imply an enterprise value
multiple of approximately 9.4 times LTG's Adjusted EBIT[2] for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023;
and
·
the Acquisition delivers more risk-adjusted immediate value
to LTG Shareholders than other options considered by the LTG Board,
including a break up of LTG with the associated execution risks and
areas of value leakage such as tax and transaction
costs.
·
Accordingly, the Independent LTG Directors believe that the
Cash Offer represents an attractive opportunity for LTG
Shareholders to realise an immediate and certain cash value today
for their investment, at a level which may not be achievable
through the execution of LTG's strategy over the medium to
longer-term.
·
In considering the Acquisition, the Independent LTG Directors
have taken into account Bidco's stated intentions for the business
and its employees.
·
Following careful consideration of the financial terms of the
Cash Offer, the combination of value and certainty that the terms
of the Cash Offer provide to LTG Shareholders, and the factors
noted above, the Independent LTG Directors intend to recommend
unanimously the Cash Offer to LTG Shareholders. The Independent LTG
Directors who hold or are beneficially entitled to LTG Shares have
each irrevocably undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in favour
of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the
General Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of
such Offer) in respect of all of their (and their connected
persons') LTG Shares being, in aggregate, a total of 13,897,147 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 1.75 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement).
·
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell have indicated that they
believe that the Cash Offer represents a full valuation of LTG and
that they would be willing to accept the Cash Offer of 100
pence per LTG Share. In line with this position, Andrew Brode and
Jonathan Satchell are supportive of the recommendation of the
Independent LTG Directors to LTG Shareholders. However, the terms
of the proposal from General Atlantic reflect Andrew Brode and
Jonathan Satchell electing for an Alternative Offer in respect of
all or substantially all of their shareholdings to enable the Cash
Offer to all LTG Shareholders to proceed. Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell therefore have each irrevocably undertaken to elect for an
Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of their
shareholdings. In addition, Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell have
each further undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in favour of
the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General
Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is implemented by
way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer) in
respect of all of their (and their connected persons') LTG Shares
being, in aggregate, a total of 190,062,090 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 23.99 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement).
·
The Independent LTG Directors have not entered into any
irrevocable undertakings to elect for an Alternative
Offer.
Irrevocable
undertakings
·
In addition to the irrevocable undertakings from the
Independent LTG Directors who hold LTG Shares, as described above,
Bidco has also received irrevocable undertakings as described
below.
·
Andrew Brode, Chairman of LTG and a Non-Independent LTG
Director, has undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in favour of
the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General
Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is implemented by
way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer) and
to elect to receive Alternative Offer 1 in respect of his entire
beneficial holding of LTG Shares, being a total of 117,098,930 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 14.78 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The
undertaking will remain binding in the event a higher competing
offer for LTG is made.
·
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive Officer and an executive
director of LTG, and a Non-Independent LTG Director, has undertaken
to vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court
Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event
that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept
or procure acceptance of such Offer) in respect of his entire
beneficial holding of LTG Shares, being a total of 72,963,160 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 9.21 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement), and to
elect to receive: (i) the Cash Offer in respect of 2,800,000 of his
LTG Shares (representing approximately 0.35 per cent. of the
existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024,
being the last Business Day before the date of this Announcement);
and (ii) an Alternative Offer in respect of 70,163,160 of his LTG
Shares (representing approximately 8.86 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The
undertaking will remain binding in the event a higher competing
offer for LTG is made.
·
Monique Vasconcelos has undertaken to vote (or procure
voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the
Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) in respect of her entire beneficial
holding of LTG Shares, being a total of 13,932,059 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 1.76 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The undertaking
will remain binding in the event a higher competing offer for LTG
is made.
·
Richard Griffiths has undertaken to vote (or procure voting)
in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at
the General Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of
such Offer) in respect of a total of 2,125,595 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 0.27 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The undertaking
will lapse and cease to be binding in the event a competing offer
for LTG is made and the consideration payable for each LTG Share
under such offer represents a premium of more than 10 per cent. to
the price per LTG Share being offered at that time by Bidco (or
anyone acting in concert with Bidco) in connection with the
Acquisition.
·
Bidco has, therefore, received irrevocable undertakings to
vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court
Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event
that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept
or procure acceptance of such Offer) in respect of a total of
220,016,891 LTG Shares (representing approximately 27.77 per cent.
of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
·
Bidco has also received irrevocable undertakings to elect for
the Alternative Offers in respect of 187,262,090 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 23.63 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement).
·
Further details of these irrevocable undertakings, including
the circumstances in which the irrevocable undertakings may lapse
or cease to be binding, are set out in Appendix III.
Information on
Bidco and General Atlantic
·
Bidco is a private limited company registered in England and
Wales and incorporated on 13 November 2024. Bidco is an entity
owned indirectly by Topco. Bidco was formed for the purposes of the
Acquisition and has not traded since its date of incorporation, nor
has it entered into any obligations other than in connection with
the Acquisition.
·
General Atlantic is a global growth investor founded in 1980.
The firm has approximately US$100 billion in assets under
management and 225 current investments, employing more than 900
professionals. General Atlantic seeks to identify investment themes
that are driven by innovation and entrepreneurship and supported by
growth. Its products include growth equity, credit, energy
transition and infrastructure.
·
As noted above, Atlantic Park is General Atlantic's Strategic
Capital Solutions franchise. Atlantic Park is focused on creating
flexible and sustainable capital structures to support high quality
companies, management teams and entrepreneurs to achieve their
long-term objectives and deliver growth in a sustainable way.
Atlantic Park's mandates are highly flexible in nature and can take
many forms (including investments across the capital
structure).
Information on
LTG
·
LTG is a key player in the growing workplace digital training
and learning and talent development market. LTG offers end-to-end
learning and talent solutions ranging from strategic consultancy,
through a range of content and platform solutions to analytical
insights that enable corporate and government clients to close the
gap between current and future workforce capability.
·
LTG is a public limited company registered in England and
Wales. The LTG Shares are traded on AIM, a market operated by the
London Stock Exchange (LTG.L) and headquartered in London. LTG has
offices in Europe, North America, South America and
Asia-Pacific.
General
·
The Cash Offer (and, as the case may be, the consideration
due under the Alternative Offers) assumes that LTG Shareholders
will not receive any dividend, distribution and/or any other return
of capital or value following the date of this
Announcement.
·
If, on or after the date of this Announcement and before the
Effective Date, any dividend, distribution and/or other return of
capital or value is authorised, declared, made, paid or becomes
payable in respect of the LTG Shares, Bidco reserves the right to
reduce the consideration payable under the terms of the Cash Offer
(and, as the case may be, the number of Rollover Securities due
under the terms of the Alternative Offers, assuming that the value
of the Rollover Securities to be issued under the Alternative
Offers for each LTG Share is equal to the consideration payable
under the Cash Offer) by an amount up to the amount of such
dividend, distribution and/or other return of capital or value. In
these circumstances, the relevant eligible LTG Shareholders will be
entitled to receive and retain such dividend, distribution and/or
return of capital or value that is authorised, declared, made, paid
or becomes payable, and any reference in this Announcement to the
consideration payable under the Cash Offer (or consideration due
under the Alternative Offers) will be deemed to be a reference to
the consideration as so reduced. Any exercise by Bidco of its
rights referred to in this paragraph will be the subject of an
announcement and, for the avoidance of doubt, will not be regarded
as constituting any revision or variation of the terms of the
Scheme.
Timetable and
Conditions
·
It is intended that the Acquisition will be implemented by
way of a Court-approved scheme of arrangement between LTG and LTG
Shareholders under Part 26 of the Companies Act (although Bidco
reserves the right to implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer,
subject to the consent of the Panel, where necessary, and the terms
of the Co-operation Agreement).
·
The Acquisition is conditional on, among other things: (i)
the approval of LTG Shareholders of the Resolution to be proposed
at the General Meeting; (ii) the approval of LTG Shareholders of
the Scheme at the Court Meeting; and (iii) the satisfaction or
waiver of the relevant antitrust and foreign direct investment
approvals including in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United
States, in each case if and to the extent required. The Conditions
to the Acquisition are set out in full in Appendix I along with
certain other terms. The full terms and conditions will be set out
in the Scheme Document.
·
The Acquisition will be put to LTG Shareholders at the Court
Meeting and to LTG Shareholders at the General Meeting. In order to
become Effective, the Scheme must be approved by a majority in
number of LTG Shareholders present and voting (and entitled to
vote) at the Court Meeting, either in person or by proxy,
representing at least 75 per cent. or more in value of the LTG
Shares held and voted by those LTG Shareholders. In addition, the
Resolution implementing the Scheme must be passed by the requisite
majority of LTG Shareholders representing at least 75 per cent. of
votes cast at the General Meeting.
·
It is expected that the Scheme Document, containing further
information about the Acquisition and notices of the Court Meeting
and General Meeting, together with the associated Forms of Proxy
and Form(s) of Election, will be dispatched to LTG Shareholders as
soon as practicable and, in any event, within 28 days of this
Announcement (or such later time as LTG, Bidco and the Panel may
agree). The Court Meeting and General Meeting are expected to be
held as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter. A copy of the
KYC Form(s) for completion of the requisite "know your customer"
checks in connection with the Alternative Offers and the Rollover
Securities is expected to be made available
at the time of publication of the Scheme Document. The Scheme
Document will also be made available on Bidco's website at
https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
·
The Acquisition is currently expected to complete during the
first quarter of 2025, subject to the satisfaction or waiver (where
applicable) of the Conditions. An expected timetable of key events
relating to the Acquisition will be set out in the Scheme
Document.
·
Commenting on the Acquisition, Andrew Brode, Chair of LTG,
said:
"Over the
last eleven years as a listed company, LTG has undergone a
strategic transformation to become a global leader in learning and
talent development. The hard work and dedication of a highly
talented and driven group of people has enabled this
achievement. The Group now employs 5,000 people and helps more
than 6,000 organisations around the world to transform their own
workforce. We are pleased that General Atlantic is aligned to this
important purpose and will partner with colleagues on this mission
going forward."
·
Commenting on the Acquisition, Simon Boddie, Senior
Independent Director of LTG, said:
"The
Independent LTG Directors have undertaken a detailed process to
assess the Cash Offer from General Atlantic and believe that the
terms appropriately value LTG and its future prospects. In a
challenging macroeconomic and uncertain business environment for
LTG, the Cash Offer represents an opportunity for LTG Shareholders
to realise this attractive value. I would like to recognise the
exceptional contribution of our people and their talent and
innovation that has driven the Group's substantial progress and
many benefits to our stakeholders."
·
Commenting on the Acquisition, Gil Badart, Principal at
General Atlantic, said:
"The LTG team
has built a high-quality business that enables critically important
digital training, learning and talent development opportunities
across workplaces globally. As the ecosystem continues to rapidly
evolve in the midst of disruptive digital advancements, we believe
Atlantic Park's flexible mandate and capabilities will deliver a
sustainable capital structure to LTG to best support the company in
accelerating its strategy and enhancing its position across core
markets. We are excited to partner with LTG on its continued
transformation journey and look forward to leveraging our deep
technology and industry expertise to enable the company to achieve
its long-term growth ambitions."
This summary
should be read in conjunction with, and is subject to, the full
text of this Announcement and the Appendices.
The Conditions to, and certain further terms of,
the Acquisition are set out herein and in Appendix I and the full
terms and conditions of the Acquisition will be set out in the
Scheme Document. The bases of calculations and sources for certain
financial information contained in this Announcement are set out in
Appendix II. Details of the irrevocable undertakings received by
Bidco in relation to the Acquisition are set out in Appendix III.
Details of Topco, the Intermediate Midcos, Bidco, the Rollover
Securities, as well as the key terms of the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement and the Topco Articles are set out in Appendix IV.
Certain confirmations from the LTG Directors are set out in
Appendix V. Certain definitions and terms used in this Announcement
are set out in Appendix VI.
Enquiries:
General
Atlantic (Media)
|
+(1) 212 715 4000
|
Emily Japlon
|
|
Sara Widmann
|
|
|
|
PJT Partners
(UK) Limited (Lead Financial Adviser to Bidco)
Kush Nanjee
|
+44 (0)20 3650 1100
|
Hugo Baring
|
|
Henry Lebus
|
|
Michael Gilbert
|
+(1) 212 364 7800
|
Jitesh Jeswani
|
|
|
|
HSBC Bank plc
(Joint Financial Adviser to Bidco)
|
+44 (0)20 7991 8888
|
Anthony Parsons
|
|
Christopher Fincken
|
|
Gregory Scott
|
|
Bhavin Dixit
|
|
Alex Thomas
|
|
|
|
Edelman Smithfield (Communications
Adviser to Bidco)
|
+44 7970 174 353
|
Alex Simmons
|
|
|
|
LTG
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive
|
+44 (0)20 7832 3440
|
Kath Kearney-Croft, Chief Financial
Officer
|
|
|
|
Goldman Sachs
International (Lead Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker to
LTG)
Nick Harper
|
+44 (0)20 7774 1000
|
Khamran Ali
|
|
Bertie Whitehead
|
|
Adam Laikin
|
|
Lorenzo Carlino
|
|
|
|
Deutsche Numis
(NOMAD, Joint Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker to
LTG)
|
+44 (0)20 7260 1000
|
Nick Westlake
|
|
Ben Stoop
|
|
Alec Pratt
|
|
Tejas Padalkar
|
|
Alexander Kladov
|
|
|
|
FTI Consulting
(Communications Adviser to LTG)
|
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
LTG@fticonsulting.com
|
Jamie Ricketts
|
|
Emma Hall
|
|
Lucy Highland
|
|
|
|
The person responsible for arranging the release
of this Announcement on behalf of LTG is Claire Walsh, Company
Secretary of LTG.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
is retained as legal adviser to Bidco and General
Atlantic.
DLA Piper UK LLP is retained as legal adviser to
LTG.
Important Notices
HSBC Bank plc
("HSBC"), which is
authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority ("PRA") and regulated in the UK by the
Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") and the PRA, is acting
exclusively as financial adviser to Bidco and no one else in
connection with the Acquisition and will not be responsible to
anyone other than Bidco for providing the protections afforded to
clients of HSBC nor for providing advice in connection with the
Acquisition or any matter referred to herein. Neither HSBC nor any
of its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates, nor any of its or
their respective partners, directors, employees, officers, agents
or representatives owes or accepts any duty, liability or
responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in
contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is
not a client of HSBC in connection with this Announcement, the
Acquisition, any statement contained herein or
otherwise.
PJT Partners
(UK) Limited ("PJT
Partners"), which is authorised and regulated in the UK by
the FCA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to Bidco and no
one else in connection with the Acquisition and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Bidco for providing the
protections afforded to clients of PJT Partners nor for providing
advice in connection with the Acquisition or any matter referred to
herein. Neither PJT Partners nor any
of its subsidiaries, branches or affiliates, nor any of its or
their respective partners, directors, employees, officers, agents
or representatives owes or accepts any duty, liability or
responsibility whatsoever (whether direct or indirect, whether in
contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is
not a client of PJT Partners in connection with this Announcement,
the Acquisition, any statement contained herein or
otherwise.
Goldman Sachs
International ("Goldman
Sachs"), which is authorised by the PRA and regulated by the
FCA and the PRA in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for
LTG as financial adviser and no one else in connection with the
Acquisition and other matters set out in this Announcement and will
not be responsible to anyone other than LTG for providing the
protections afforded to clients of Goldman Sachs, nor for providing
advice in connection with the Acquisition, the content of this
Announcement or any matter referred to herein. Neither Goldman
Sachs nor any of Goldman Sachs' subsidiaries, affiliates or
branches owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility
whatsoever (whether direct, indirect, consequential, whether in
contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is
not a client of Goldman Sachs in connection with this Announcement,
any statement contained herein or otherwise.
Numis
Securities Limited (trading as "Deutsche Numis"), which is authorised
and regulated in the UK by the FCA, is acting exclusively as
financial adviser to LTG and no one else in connection with the
Acquisition and will not regard any other person as its client in
relation to the matters in this Announcement and will not be
responsible to anyone other than LTG for providing the protections
afforded to clients of Deutsche Numis nor for providing advice in
connection with the Acquisition or any matter referred to herein.
Neither Deutsche Numis nor any of its affiliates (nor any of their
respective directors, officers, employees or agents), owes or
accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether
direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or
otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Deutsche Numis in
connection with the Acquisition or any statement contained herein
or otherwise. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is
made by Deutsche Numis as to the contents of this
Announcement.
This
Announcement is for information purposes only. It does not
constitute, and is not intended to constitute, or form part of, any
offer, invitation or solicitation of an offer to purchase,
otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of any
securities, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any
jurisdiction, pursuant to the Acquisition or otherwise, nor will
there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any
jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. The Acquisition
will be made solely pursuant to the terms of the Scheme Document
(or, if the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, the
Offer Document), which will contain the full terms and conditions
of the Acquisition, including details of how to vote in respect of
the Acquisition. Any vote or decision in respect of, or other
response to, the Acquisition should be made only on the basis of
the information in the Scheme Document (or, if the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, the Offer
Document).
LTG will
prepare the Scheme Document to be distributed to LTG Shareholders.
LTG and Bidco urge LTG Shareholders to read the Scheme Document
when it becomes available because it will contain important
information in relation to the Acquisition.
This
Announcement does not constitute a prospectus or prospectus
exemption document.
This
Announcement has been prepared for the purpose of complying with
the laws of England and Wales, the AIM Rules and the Code and the
information disclosed may not be the same as that which would have
been disclosed if this Announcement had been prepared in accordance
with the laws of jurisdictions outside England and
Wales.
Overseas Shareholders
The release,
publication or distribution of this Announcement in or into certain
jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by
law. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or who are
subject to other jurisdictions should inform themselves of, and
observe, any applicable requirements.
Unless
otherwise determined by Bidco or required by the Code, and
permitted by applicable law and regulation, the Acquisition will
not be made available, directly or indirectly, in, into or from a
Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate the laws in
that jurisdiction and no person may vote in favour of the
Acquisition by any such use, means, instrumentality or from within
a Restricted Jurisdiction or any other jurisdiction if to do so
would constitute a violation of the laws of that jurisdiction.
Accordingly, copies of this Announcement and all documents relating
to the Acquisition are not being, and must not be, directly or
indirectly, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in,
into or from a Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate
the laws in that jurisdiction, and persons receiving this
Announcement and all documents relating to the Acquisition
(including custodians, nominees and trustees) must not mail or
otherwise distribute or send them in, into or from such
jurisdictions where to do so would violate the laws in that
jurisdiction.
The
availability of the Acquisition to LTG Shareholders who are not
resident in the United Kingdom may be affected by the laws of the
relevant jurisdictions in which they are resident. Persons who are
not resident in the United Kingdom should inform themselves of, and
observe, any applicable legal and regulatory
requirements.
The Rollover
Securities are not being offered, sold, resold, taken up,
transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly, in, into or from
any Restricted Jurisdiction or to, or for the account or benefit
of, any Overseas Shareholders who are resident in, or are nationals
or citizens of, any Restricted Jurisdiction (or who are nominees,
custodians, trustees or guardians for, citizens, residents or
nationals of such Restricted Jurisdictions), except pursuant to an
applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to,
applicable securities laws of those jurisdictions and/or where all
regulatory approvals (where applicable) have been validly obtained.
Any individual acceptances of an Alternative Offer will only be
valid if all regulatory approvals by an LTG Shareholder to acquire
the relevant Rollover Securities have been
obtained.
LTG
Shareholders should be aware that the transaction contemplated
herein may have tax consequences and that such consequences, if
any, are not described herein. LTG Shareholders are urged to
consult with appropriate legal, tax and financial advisers in
connection with the consequences of the Acquisition (including any
election for an Alternative Offer) on them. It is intended that the
Bidco Rollover Securities, Midco 3 Rollover Securities, Midco 2
Rollover Securities and Midco 1 Rollover Securities constitute
non-qualifying corporate bonds for holders of such securities who
are UK tax resident individuals.
The
Acquisition will be subject to the laws of England and Wales, the
jurisdiction of the Court, and the applicable requirements of the
Code, the Panel, the AIM Rules, the London Stock Exchange and the
FCA.
Additional information for U.S.
investors
The
Acquisition relates to shares of a UK company and is proposed to be
implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under the laws of
England and Wales. A transaction implemented by means of a scheme
of arrangement is not subject to the tender offer rules or the
proxy solicitation rules under the U.S. Exchange
Act.
Accordingly,
the Acquisition is subject to the disclosure and procedural
requirements applicable in the United Kingdom to schemes of
arrangement which differ from the disclosure requirements of United
States tender offer and proxy solicitation rules.
The receipt of
consideration by a U.S. holder for the transfer of its LTG Shares
pursuant to the Scheme may have tax consequences in the United
States. Each LTG Shareholder is urged to consult their independent
professional adviser immediately regarding the tax consequences of
the Acquisition applicable to them, including under applicable
United States state, federal and local, as well as overseas and
other tax laws.
Financial
information relating to LTG included in this Announcement and the
Scheme Document has been or shall have been prepared in accordance
with accounting standards applicable in the United Kingdom and may
not be comparable to financial information of U.S. companies or
companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles in the United
States.
Bidco and LTG
are organised under the laws of England and Wales. Some or all of
the officers and directors of Bidco and LTG, respectively, are
residents of countries other than the United States. ln addition,
most of the assets of LTG are located outside the United States. As
a result, it may be difficult for U.S. shareholders of LTG to
effect service of process within the United States upon Bidco or
LTG or their respective officers or directors or to enforce against
them a judgment of a U.S. court predicated upon the federal or
state securities laws of the United States.
The Rollover
Securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the
U.S. Securities Act, or applicable state securities laws.
Accordingly, the Rollover Securities may not be offered, sold,
resold, taken up, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly,
in the United States absent registration or an available exemption
or a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of
the U.S. Securities Act. Accordingly, the Rollover Securities will
not be issued to LTG Shareholders unless Bidco determines that they
may be issued pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction
that is not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S.
Securities Act as provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S.
Securities Act or another available exemption.
The Rollover
Securities are expected to be issued in reliance on the exemption
from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act set
forth in Section 3(a)(10) thereof on the basis of the approval of
the Court, and similar exemptions from registration under
applicable state securities laws. Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S.
Securities Act exempts the issuance of any securities issued in
exchange for one or more bona fide outstanding securities from the
general requirement of registration under the U.S. Securities Act,
where the terms and conditions of the issuance and exchange of such
securities have been approved by a court of competent jurisdiction
that is expressly authorised by law to grant such approval, after a
hearing upon the substantive and procedural fairness of the terms
and conditions of such issuance and exchange at which all persons
to whom it is proposed to issue the securities have the right to
appear and receive timely and adequate notice thereof. The Court is
authorised to conduct a hearing at which the substantive and
procedural fairness of the terms and conditions of the Scheme will
be considered. For the purposes of qualifying for the exemption
provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act, LTG will
advise the Court before the hearing that the Court's approval of
the Scheme will constitute the basis for an exemption from the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act, pursuant to
Section 3(a)(10).
THE
SCHEME AND THE ROLLOVER SECURITIES TO BE ISSUED IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY
OTHER SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF ANY STATE OF THE UNITED
STATES, NOR HAS THE SEC OR ANY SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF
ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES PASSED UPON THE FAIRNESS OR THE
MERITS OF THIS TRANSACTION OR UPON THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY REPRESENTATION TO
THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.
Forward-looking
statements
This
Announcement (including information incorporated by reference in
this Announcement), oral statements made regarding the Acquisition,
and other information published by LTG, Bidco, any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group, any member of the Wider Bidco
Group or General Atlantic, contain statements which are, or may be
deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking
statements are prospective in nature and are not based on
historical facts, but rather on current expectations and on
numerous assumptions regarding the business strategies and the
environment in which Bidco and LTG shall operate in the future and
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
those statements.
The
forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement relate to
Bidco and LTG's future prospects, developments and business
strategies, the expected timing and scope of the Acquisition and
other statements other than historical facts. In some cases, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes",
"estimates", "will look to", "would look to", "plans", "prepares",
"anticipates", "expects", "is expected to", "is subject to",
"budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "synergy", "strategy", "goal",
"cost-saving", "projects", "intends", "may", "will", "shall" or
"should" or their negatives or other variations or comparable
terminology. Forward-looking statements may include statements
relating to the following: (i) future capital expenditures,
expenses, revenues, earnings, synergies, economic performance,
indebtedness, financial condition, dividend policy, losses and
future prospects; (ii) business and management strategies and the
expansion and growth of Bidco's, LTG's, any member of the Bidco
Group's or any member of the Group's operations and potential
synergies resulting from the Acquisition; and (iii) the effects of
global economic conditions and governmental regulation on Bidco's,
LTG's, any member of the Bidco Group's or any member of the Group's
business.
Although Bidco
and LTG believe that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, neither Bidco nor LTG
(nor any of their respective associates, directors, officers or
advisers) can give any assurance that such expectations will prove
to be correct. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve
risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of
factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements.
These factors
include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability to complete the
Acquisition; (ii) the ability to obtain requisite regulatory and
shareholder approvals and the satisfaction of other Conditions on
the proposed terms and schedule; (iii) changes in the global,
political, economic, business and competitive environments and in
market and regulatory forces; (iv) changes in future exchange and
interest rates; (v) changes in tax rates; (vi) future business
combinations or disposals; (vii) changes in general economic and
business conditions; (viii) changes in the behaviour of other
market participants; (ix) changes in the anticipated benefits from
the proposed transaction not being realised as a result of changes
in general economic and market conditions in the countries in which
Bidco and LTG operate; (x) weak, volatile or illiquid capital
and/or credit markets; (xi) changes in the degree of competition in
the geographic and business areas in which Bidco and LTG operate;
(xii) changes in laws or in supervisory expectations or requirements; and (xiii) any epidemic or
pandemic or disease outbreak or global health crisis. Other unknown
or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expected, estimated or projected in the
forward-looking statements. If any one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialises or if any one or more of the assumptions
proves incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those
expected, estimated or projected. Such forward-looking statements
should therefore be construed in the light of such
factors.
Neither LTG
nor Bidco, nor any of their respective associates or directors,
officers or advisers, provides any representation, assurance or
guarantee that the occurrence of the events expressed or implied in
any forward-looking statements in this Announcement will actually
occur. Given these risks and uncertainties, potential investors
should not place any reliance on forward-looking
statements.
Specifically,
statements of estimated cost savings and synergies relate to future
actions and circumstances which, by their nature involve risks,
uncertainties and contingencies. As a result, the cost savings and
synergies referred to may not be achieved, may be achieved later or
sooner than estimated, or those achieved could be materially
different from those estimated. Due to the scale of the Group,
there may be additional changes to the Group's operations. As a
result, and given the fact that the changes relate to the future,
the resulting cost synergies may be materially greater or less than
those estimated.
The
forward-looking statements speak only at the date of this
Announcement. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking
statements attributable to Bidco, LTG, any member of the Bidco
Group or the Group, or any of their respective associates,
directors, officers, employees or advisers, are expressly qualified
in their entirety by the cautionary statement
above.
LTG and Bidco
(and their respective associates, directors, officers or advisers)
expressly disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, other than as required by law or by
the rules of any competent regulatory authority, whether as a
result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Disclosure requirements of the
Code
Under Rule
8.3(a) of the Code, any person who is interested in 1 per cent. or
more of any class of relevant securities of a target company or of
any securities exchange bidder (being any bidder other than a
bidder in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is,
or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position
Disclosure following the commencement of the offer period and, if
later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange
bidder is first identified. An Opening Position Disclosure must
contain details of the person's interests and short positions in,
and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of:
(i) the target company; and (ii) any securities exchange bidder(s).
An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a)
applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on
the 10th business day following the commencement of the offer
period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London
time) on the 10th business day following the announcement in which
any securities exchange bidder is first identified. Relevant
persons who deal in the relevant securities of the target company
or of a securities exchange bidder prior to the deadline for making
an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing
Disclosure.
Under Rule
8.3(b) of the Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in 1
per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of the target
company or of any securities exchange bidder must make a Dealing
Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the
target company or of any securities exchange bidder. A Dealing
Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the
person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe
for, any relevant securities of each of: (i) the target company;
and (ii) any securities exchange bidder(s), save to the extent that
these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A
Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be
made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the business day
following the date of the relevant dealing.
If two or more
persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding,
whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in
relevant securities of a target company or a securities exchange
bidder, they shall be deemed to be a single person for the purpose
of Rule 8.3.
Opening
Position Disclosures must also be made by the target company and by
any bidder and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the target
company, by any bidder and by any persons acting in concert with
any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4).
Details of the
target and bidder companies in respect of whose relevant securities
Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made
can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel's website
at http://www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk/,
including details of the number of relevant securities in issue,
when the offer period commenced and when any bidder was first
identified. You should contact the Panel's Market Surveillance Unit
on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you
are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing
Disclosure.
No
profit forecasts, estimates or quantified benefits
statement
Save for the
LTG Statement set out in paragraph 9 and Appendix V, no statement in this
Announcement is intended as a profit forecast, profit estimate or
quantified benefits statement for any period and no statement in
this Announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings or
earnings per share for Bidco or LTG, as appropriate, for the
current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed
the historical published earnings or earnings per share for Bidco
or LTG, as appropriate.
Publication on website and availability
of hard copies
A copy of this
Announcement will be made available, subject to certain
restrictions relating to persons resident in Restricted
Jurisdictions, on Bidco's and LTG's websites at
https://announcements-ga.com/
and https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/,
respectively, by no later than 12 noon (London time) on 5 December
2024. For the avoidance of doubt, the contents of these websites or
any other website accessible from hyperlinks are not incorporated
into and do not form part of this Announcement.
You may
request a hard copy of this Announcement by contacting
Computershare Investor Services PLC at The Pavilions, Bridgwater
Road, Bristol, BS99 6ZZ or by telephone on +44 (0)370 702 0000. You
may also request that all future documents, announcements and
information to be sent to you in relation to the Acquisition should
be in hard copy form.
Electronic
communications
Please be
aware that addresses, electronic addresses and certain other
information provided by LTG Shareholders, persons with information
rights and other relevant persons for the receipt of communications
from LTG may be provided to Bidco during the Offer Period as
required under Section 4 of Appendix 4 of the Code to comply with
Rule 2.11(c) of the Code.
Rounding
Certain
figures included in this Announcement have been subjected to
rounding adjustments. Accordingly, figures shown for the same
category presented in different tables may vary slightly and
figures shown as totals in certain tables may not be an arithmetic
aggregation of the figures that precede them.
General
Bidco reserves
the right to elect (subject to the consent of the Panel, where
necessary, and the terms of the Co-operation Agreement) to
implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer as an alternative to
the Scheme. In such event, the Offer will be implemented on
substantially the same terms and conditions, so far as is
applicable, as those which would apply to the Scheme (subject to
appropriate amendments to reflect the change in method of
implementation and the terms of the Co-operation
Agreement).
If the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, and such an Offer
becomes or is declared unconditional and sufficient acceptances are
received, Bidco intends to: (i) make a request to the London Stock
Exchange to cancel the admission to trading of LTG Shares on AIM;
and (ii) exercise its rights to apply the provisions of Chapter 3
of Part 28 of the Companies Act so as to acquire compulsorily the
remaining LTG Shares in respect of which the Offer has not been
accepted.
Investors
should be aware that Bidco may purchase LTG Shares otherwise than
under any Offer or the Scheme, including pursuant to privately
negotiated purchases.
If you are in
any doubt about the contents of this Announcement or the action you
should take, you are recommended to seek your own independent
financial advice immediately from your stockbroker, bank manager,
solicitor or independent financial adviser duly authorised under
FSMA if you are resident in the United Kingdom or, if not, from
another appropriate authorised independent financial
adviser.
Inside information
The
information in this Announcement is deemed by LTG to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 (as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018). On the publication of
this Announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public
domain.
Rule
2.9 Disclosure
In accordance
with Rule 2.9 of the Code, as at the date of this Announcement, LTG
confirms that it has 792,346,573 ordinary shares of £0.00375 each
in issue (including 179,340 ordinary shares held through its
employee benefit trust) and admitted to trading on AIM, a market
operated by the London Stock Exchange. There are no shares held in
treasury. The International Securities Identification Number (ISIN)
for the ordinary shares is GB00B4T7HX10.
NOT FOR
RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY
OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO
WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF
SUCH JURISDICTION
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT A PROSPECTUS, A PROSPECTUS
EQUIVALENT DOCUMENT OR A PROSPECTUS EXEMPT DOCUMENT AND LTG
SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY DECISION IN RELATION TO THE
ROLLOVER SECURITIES EXCEPT ON THE BASIS OF INFORMATION IN THE
SCHEME DOCUMENT WHICH IS PROPOSED TO BE PUBLISHED IN DUE
COURSE
THIS
ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
4 December
2024
RECOMMENDED
ACQUISITION
of
Learning
Technologies Group plc
by
Leopard UK
Bidco Limited
(a newly
formed company owned by funds managed by GASC APF, L.P. and certain
of its managed funds (including Atlantic Park), accounts and/or
affiliates ("General Atlantic"))
to be
implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of
the Companies Act 2006
1.
Introduction
The board of Leopard UK Bidco Limited
("Bidco") and the
independent directors of Learning Technologies Group plc
("LTG") are pleased to
announce that they have reached agreement on the terms and
conditions of a recommended acquisition by Bidco for the entire
issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital of LTG.
It is intended that the Acquisition will be
implemented by way of a Court-approved scheme of arrangement
between LTG and LTG Shareholders under Part 26 of the Companies Act
(although Bidco reserves the right to implement the Acquisition by
way of an Offer, subject to the consent of the Panel, where
necessary, and the terms of the Co-operation Agreement). The
Conditions to, and certain further terms of, the Acquisition are
set out in full in Appendix I and the full terms and conditions of
the Acquisition will be set out in the Scheme Document.
2.
The Acquisition
Under the terms of the Acquisition, which will
be subject to the Conditions and further terms set out in Appendix
I and the full terms and conditions to be set out in the Scheme
Document, each LTG Shareholder will be entitled to
receive:
for each LTG Share: 100 pence in cash
(the "Cash Offer")
The cash consideration payable per LTG Share in
connection with the Cash Offer represents a premium of
approximately:
·
34 per cent. to the Closing Price of 74.9 pence per LTG Share
on 26 September 2024 (being the last Business Day before the
commencement of the Offer Period);
·
40 per cent. to the volume-weighted average price of 71.2
pence per LTG Share for the one-month period ended 26 September
2024 (being the last Business Day before the commencement of the
Offer Period);
·
37 per cent. to the volume-weighted average price of 73.0
pence per LTG Share for the three-month period ended 26 September
2024 (being the last Business Day before the commencement of the
Offer Period); and
·
44 per cent. to the volume weighted average price
of 69.7 pence per LTG Share for the period from the
announcement of LTG's trading update on 24 July 2024 in respect of
the six months ended 30 June 2024 to (being the last Business
Day before the commencement of the Offer Period).
The Cash Offer values the entire issued, and to
be issued, ordinary share capital of LTG at approximately £802.4
million on a fully diluted basis.
The Cash Offer represents an implied enterprise
value multiple of 9.4 times LTG's Adjusted EBIT[3] of £88.7 million for the full year ended 31
December 2023.
As an alternative to the Cash Offer, eligible
LTG Shareholders may elect to participate in either (but not both)
of the Alternative Offers in order to receive Rollover Securities
comprising unlisted securities in the capital of Topco. Further
detail in relation to the Alternative Offers and the Rollover
Securities is set out in paragraphs 4 and 13
and at Appendix IV.
The LTG Shares will be acquired pursuant to the
Acquisition fully paid and free from all liens, equities, charges,
encumbrances, options, rights of pre‑emption and any other third
party rights and interests of any nature and together with all
rights now or hereafter attaching or accruing thereto, including,
without limitation, voting rights and the right to receive and
retain in full all dividends, distributions and/or other return of
capital or value authorised, declared, made, paid or becomes
payable with a record date in respect of the LTG Shares on or after
the Effective Date.
3.
Background to and reasons for the Acquisition
General Atlantic has a long and successful track
record of investing in the technology sector and it has leveraged
this experience to help develop some of the most widely known
online learning platforms in the e-learning industry, including
Duolingo, Kahoot!, Fluency Academy, Arco, Crehana, Panorama
Education, Articulate, Zoomin, Quizlet, Unacademy, Ruangguru and
Little Golden Star.
Since its founding in 1980, General Atlantic has
invested approximately US$67 billion in more than 540 growth
companies, including approximately US$34 billion in around 300
technology companies globally, including across North America and
the United Kingdom. General Atlantic has built its investment
strategy on supporting portfolio companies to enable growth and
take advantage of development opportunities by providing strong
financial backing as well as leveraging General Atlantic's various
strategic resources, wide network and deep knowledge
base.
Atlantic Park is General Atlantic's Strategic
Capital Solutions franchise. Atlantic Park is focused on creating
flexible and sustainable capital structures to support high quality
companies, management teams and entrepreneurs to achieve their
long-term objectives and deliver growth in a sustainable way.
Atlantic Park's mandates are highly flexible in nature and can take
many forms (including investments across the capital
structure).
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that LTG has
built a portfolio of high quality assets across technology,
software and services in the workplace digital training and
learning and talent development market, with a diversified
geographic footprint, customer base and end-market.
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that, with
the appropriate investment and optimisation of the Group's
portfolio, LTG is well placed to maintain and improve its position
within its core markets.
General Atlantic and Bidco believe that the
rapidly evolving market, including the impact of lower custom
content demand and human resources enterprise software
consolidation as well as the expected disruptive impact on the
ecosystem from the emergence of generative AI, will require further
investment and optimisation of the Group's portfolio (in addition
to that contemplated by the Group's previously announced active
portfolio management strategy). General Atlantic and Bidco believe
that the Group will face greater competitive pressure in the
future, but will also benefit from increasing training requirements
for large corporate customers as they adapt to AI and other
challenges throughout their organisations and markets. These
opportunities will require further investments in the Group's
product solutions and allow for adaptation of the Group's client
proposition. General Atlantic and Bidco therefore believe that LTG
requires a supportive partner with deep expertise in the technology
sector to navigate this changing backdrop and take advantage of the
opportunities it may present.
In the context of continued market and macro
uncertainty, General Atlantic and Bidco believe that the next
stages of LTG's journey and the execution of its strategy can be
best delivered as a private company without the external pressures
placed on a publicly owned company (including frequent public
financial reporting requirements and the associated governance,
cost and regulatory burdens).
Following the Acquisition becoming Effective,
General Atlantic and Bidco intend to accelerate LTG's strategy. As
a private company, LTG will be better positioned and have greater
flexibility, in a dynamic and fast changing industry, to invest in
the products and technology required to face increasing competition
from peers and offset the potentially disruptive impact of AI and
other challenges. The Group will also be better placed to optimise
its portfolio of its assets and strategy in order to support the
growth of the Group and stabilise the businesses within its
portfolio which are currently in decline.
The Group will also benefit from the support of
General Atlantic and be able to leverage its deep experience within
the technology and business services sectors, its extensive network
and strategy-enhancing value creation team to capitalise on the
potential opportunities that the market environment presents.
Therefore, both the benefits of private ownership and having
General Atlantic as a partner will help the Group to accelerate its
strategy and maintain and enhance its position across its core
markets for the benefit of all of the Group's customers and
employees.
4.
Recommendation
Cash
Offer
The Independent LTG Directors, who have been so
advised by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis as to the financial
terms of the Cash Offer, consider the terms of the Cash Offer to be
fair and reasonable. In providing their advice to the Independent
LTG Directors, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis have taken into
account the commercial assessments of the Independent LTG
Directors. Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis are providing
independent financial advice to the Independent LTG Directors for
the purposes of Rule 3 of the Code.
Accordingly, the Independent LTG Directors
intend to unanimously recommend that LTG Shareholders vote in
favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the
General Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, to accept such Offer), as those
Independent LTG Directors who hold or are beneficially entitled to
LTG Shares have each irrevocably undertaken to do in respect of all
of their (and their connected persons') LTG Shares being, in
aggregate, a total of 13,897,147 LTG Shares (representing
approximately 1.75 per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share
capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last Business Day
before the date of this Announcement).
On the basis that the proposal from General
Atlantic reflects Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell each providing
an irrevocable undertaking to support the Acquisition and to elect
for an Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of
their shareholdings, the LTG Board formed an independent committee
comprising all LTG Directors excluding Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell to consider the proposal. The Independent LTG Directors
benefitted from the experience of both executive and non-executive
members of the LTG Board and the independent committee includes all
independent members of the LTG Board. The Independent LTG Directors
considered the proposal from General Atlantic and Bidco and the
financial advice received from Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis to
assess their recommendation. Neither Andrew Brode nor Jonathan
Satchell has participated in the decision to make the
recommendation referred to above.
Alternative Offers
As noted in paragraph 13, Bidco is also
separately making available the Alternative Offers and eligible LTG
Shareholders may elect for either (but not both) of the Alternative
Offers in respect of some or all of their LTG Shares as an
alternative to consideration payable in connection with the Cash
Offer.
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis are unable to
advise the Independent LTG Directors as to whether or not the
financial terms of either Alternative Offer are fair and
reasonable. This is because of the significant and variable impact
the disadvantages and advantages that the Alternative Offers may
have for individual LTG Shareholders as described above and in
paragraph 13 and Appendix IV. In
addition, neither Goldman Sachs nor Deutsche Numis has had any
involvement in the development and/or validation of any financial
projections for Topco, the Topco Group or the Group. As a result,
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis have been unable to assess any
plans that Topco may have for the development of Topco, the Topco
Group or the Group to the degree necessary to form an assessment of
the value of either Alternative Offer.
Accordingly,
the Independent LTG Directors are unable to form an opinion as to
whether or not the terms of either Alternative Offer are fair and
reasonable. The Independent LTG Directors are not making any
recommendation to LTG Shareholders as to whether or not they should
elect for an Alternative Offer and they are not making any
recommendation to LTG Shareholders between Alternative Offer 1 and
Alternative Offer 2.
In reviewing the terms of the Alternative
Offers, the Independent LTG Directors, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche
Numis have identified certain key disadvantages and advantages of
electing for either of the Alternative Offers, which are set out in
further detail in paragraph
13.
The Independent LTG Directors have not entered
into any irrevocable undertakings to elect for an Alternative
Offer. The intended elections of the Independent LTG Directors with
respect to the Alternative Offers (if any) in respect of their own
beneficial holdings of LTG Shares (if any) will be set out in the
Scheme Document.
As noted in paragraph
13, Andrew Brode (Chairman and a non-executive
director of LTG) and Jonathan Satchell (Chief Executive Officer and
an executive director of LTG), each of whom are Non-Independent LTG
Directors, have each irrevocably undertaken to elect for an
Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of their
current holdings of LTG Shares, reflective of the proposal from
General Atlantic that they should hold an investment in the Group
going forward. Each of their personal circumstances mean that they
are willing to hold (and are capable of holding) unlisted,
non-transferrable instruments, and these factors outweigh the
disadvantages set out above and the risk factors set out in
paragraph 13. Andrew Brode intends to
elect for Alternative Offer 1 and Jonathan Satchell intends to
elect for an Alternative Offer. Jonathan Satchell's intentions with
respect to which Alternative Offer he will elect for will be set
out in the Scheme Document.
The Independent LTG Directors consider that, in
deciding whether or not to elect for an Alternative Offer in
respect of some or all of their LTG Shares held and whether they
are a suitable investment, LTG Shareholders should consider
carefully the risk factors set out in paragraph 13 as well as the
disadvantages and advantages of electing for either of the
Alternative Offers (including, but not limited to, those set out
below) in light of their own personal circumstances and investment
objectives. LTG Shareholders should also ascertain whether
acquiring or holding Rollover Securities is affected by the laws of
the relevant jurisdiction in which they reside. LTG Shareholders
are, therefore, strongly recommended to seek their own independent
financial, tax and legal advice in light of their own personal
circumstances and investment objectives before deciding whether to
elect for an Alternative Offer in respect of all or part of their
holding of LTG Shares. Any decision to elect for an Alternative
Offer should be based on any such independent financial, tax and
legal advice and full consideration of the information in this
Announcement (including as set out in Appendix IV), the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles (each available on
Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/)
and in the Scheme Document.
Disadvantages
associated with the Alternative Offers
Disadvantages and other investment
considerations for LTG Shareholders in connection with the
Alternative Offers may include:
·
the Rollover Securities will be:
·
unlisted and will not be admitted to trading on any stock
exchange and will therefore be illiquid. Any assessment of the
value of the Rollover Securities should therefore take into account
an individual shareholder's assessment of an appropriate liquidity
discount;
·
subject to the Lock-Up Period, during which they can only be
transferred in very limited circumstances, and thereafter will be
subject to a right of first offer in favour of those Topco
shareholders who hold 10 per cent. or more of the relevant
securities in Topco;
·
of uncertain value and there can be no assurance that they
will be capable of being sold in the future at the value to be
estimated by PJT Partners, as financial adviser to Bidco, in the
Scheme Document;
·
holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares holding less than 25 per
cent. of the voting rights of Topco (on a fully diluted basis,
including the Warrants as if they had all been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time) and B Preference Shares will have no meaningful
influence over decisions made by the Topco Group in relation to its
investment in LTG or in any other business or in relation to any
member of the Topco Group's (or the Group's) strategy (other than
their right to vote at general meetings of Topco);
·
following completion of the Acquisition and on the basis of
their election for an Alternative Offer, it is anticipated that
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell will have a significant rollover
equity investment in the Bidco Group. This total rollover equity
investment will comprise Rollover Ordinary Shares and may also
include B Preference Shares, although the exact size and nature of
this investment will depend on the level of election by LTG
Shareholders for the Alternative Offers, the specific Alternative
Offer elected for by both Jonathan Satchell and other LTG
Shareholders and the resulting proportion of Rollover Ordinary
Shares and B Preference Shares issued as Rollover Securities. It is
anticipated that Andrew Brode's and Jonathan Satchell's combined
rollover equity investment will represent a minority but
significant proportion of the total equity commitment in the Bidco
Group across a combination of all Ordinary Shares and Preference
Shares. General Atlantic is anticipated to represent a majority of
the combined Ordinary Shares and Preference Shares. When considered
separately, it is anticipated that Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell will between them represent a majority of all Ordinary
Shares and General Atlantic will represent a majority of all
Preference Shares;
·
if and to the extent that two or three of General Atlantic,
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell were to exercise their voting
rights in the same manner, given the aggregate of their voting
rights, other holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares will have reduced
influence or control with respect to decisions made by Topco in
relation to its indirect investment in the Group and/or any other
business. In relation to Alternative Offer 2, holders of B
Preference Shares do not carry any general voting rights at general
meetings of Topco (save in respect of rights to vote as a class of
shareholder as required in accordance with applicable law) and the
holders of B Preferences Shares will therefore have no ability to
vote on matters or otherwise confer influence over decisions made
by Topco in relation to its indirect investment in the Group and/or
any other business;
·
the holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares who hold less than 10
per cent. of the voting rights in Topco (on a fully diluted basis,
including the Warrants as if they had all been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time) do not enjoy any minority protections or other
rights including rights to information, except for those rights
prescribed by applicable law. In relation to Alternative Offer 2,
the B Preference Shares do not benefit from any governance rights
or any minority protections or other rights (including consent
rights or information rights) except for those prescribed by
applicable law;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, subject to applicable
law, the Topco Board has the right to redeem the Preference Shares
at any time in accordance with the Topco Articles, in which case
the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price will apply. In
addition, the Preference Shares (including the B Preference Shares)
are expected to be redeemed on a direct or indirect change of
control of LTG. As a result, holders of B Preference Shares could
lose their continued indirect economic exposure to LTG (via the B
Preference Shares) and can therefore have no assurance as to how
long they will be in issue (including as to how long the dividend
payable on such B Preference Shares will be paid);
·
the holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares will be diluted upon
exercise and conversion by General Atlantic of the Warrants into
Ordinary Shares. In connection with its funding of the Acquisition,
General Atlantic is entitled to be issued with such number of
Warrants as is equal to a maximum amount of 12.5 per cent. of
Topco's Ordinary Share capital on a fully diluted basis (calculated
on the basis of including the impact of the Warrants as if they had
all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance
with their terms at the relevant time). The number of Warrants to
be issued to General Atlantic will be reduced from such maximum
amount if and to the extent that B Preference Shares are issued in
connection with valid elections from LTG Shareholders for
Alternative Offer 2 (thereby reducing the number of A1 Preference
Shares to be issued to General Atlantic), in such number as is
commensurate with the number of B Preference Shares issued to LTG
Shareholders pursuant to Alternative Offer 2. In addition, General
Atlantic will be entitled to a rateable increase in its number of
Warrants (potentially in excess of 12.5 per cent. of Topco's fully
diluted Ordinary Share capital) if it subscribes for additional A
Preference Shares in connection with any Pre Approved
Funding;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
(and the basing amounts payable in connection with the Preferred
Dividend and the Preference Share Redemption Price) will be
denominated in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, payment of the Preferred
Dividend and the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price will
be made in U.S. dollars and LTG Shareholders will be exposed to
foreign exchange fluctuations in the value of U.S.
dollars;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
will be issued at a U.S. dollar price per B Preference Share that
is equivalent to the price of 100 pence per LTG Share in respect of
the Cash Offer. The applicable GBP:USD exchange rate will be same
rate as for determining the U.S. dollar issue price for the A
Preference Shares in accordance with the Hedging Instrument, as
described in paragraph 4 of Appendix IV.
This rate will not be known until on or following the Effective
Date. As a result, there may be foreign exchange fluctuations
between the date of this Announcement and the time that such
exchange rate is determined which may reduce (or increase) the
overall value (in pound terms at that point in time) of the
consideration received by an LTG Shareholder who has validly
elected for Alternative Offer 2. In addition, LTG Shareholders will
have no control over the applicable exchange rate that is
ultimately applied;
·
holders of Rollover Securities may also be diluted (directly
or indirectly) over time, potentially significantly, should there
be further issues of securities by Topco and holders of Rollover
Securities are unable to or choose not to participate in such
further issues of securities (including as a result of Pre Approved
Funding, in respect of which holders of Rollover Securities will
not be entitled to participate). If holders of Rollover Securities
wish to avoid their percentage interest in Topco being diluted,
they may (if and to the extent they are permitted to do so) need to
further invest cash sums in Topco (and provide related
documentation). In particular, holders of Rollover Securities who
do not exercise (or, in certain circumstances, are not permitted to
exercise) any pre-emption rights or catch-up rights by investing
the necessary cash sums in respect of further issuances of
securities by Topco may suffer significant dilution in their
percentage ownership. The price of and valuation methodology in
relation to such further issuances is not known and may be
different to the value to be estimated by PJT Partners, as lead
financial adviser to Bidco, in the Scheme Document;
·
the right of holders of Rollover Securities to participate in
further issues of Rollover Securities by Topco is subject to
certain important restrictions. These include exclusions in the
case of further issues of securities:
·
in connection with General Atlantic (and/or its
associates) subscribing for Ordinary Shares in the
capital of Topco in order to fund (indirectly) the consideration
payable by Bidco under the Cash Offer to LTG Shareholders, pursuant
to the terms of the Acquisition (for the avoidance of doubt, this
is not expected to have a dilutive impact on holders of Topco
securities);
·
to General Atlantic and/or its associates in connection with
any Pre Approved Funding required to ensure the Topco Group has at
least US$38 million of available cash as at the Effective
Date;
·
to the Rollover Investors pursuant to the Scheme (or, if
applicable, the Offer);
·
upon the exercise of any Warrant pursuant to the terms of the
Warrant Instrument;
·
to actual or potential employees, directors or consultants of
the Topco Group (whether directly or indirectly, including through
a trust, nominee or other investment vehicle established for the
purposes of holding Rollover Securities on behalf of such persons)
in connection with any management incentive plan related to the
Topco Group;
·
to any vendor(s) as non-cash consideration on the acquisition
of, or merger with, all or part of another business, undertaking,
company or assets;
·
other than to General Atlantic or any of its associates, in
connection with the debt financing arrangements of the Topco Group,
which will dilute securities held by the Topco shareholders
pro-rata;
·
in connection with an IPO or a pre-IPO reorganisation
transaction; or
·
in respect of which General Atlantic and the holders of a
Topco Special Majority agree in writing that the pre-emption rights
in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement will not apply (it being noted
that, together, General Atlantic, Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell would be able to form a Topco Special
Majority);
·
the A2 Preference Shares rank senior to the A1 Preference
Shares and the B Preference Shares as regards any distribution,
buy-back, any other capital redemption or other return of income or
capital made by Topco and, while the A2 Preference Shares do not
benefit from the Preference Dividend or any other dividend, the A2
Preference Shares will be redeemed at the applicable Issue Price
before the A1 Preference Shares and B Preference Shares are
redeemed;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
(and A Preference Shares) rank senior to the Rollover Ordinary
Shares in all respects, meaning that the Preference Dividend to be
paid on the B Preference Shares (and A1 Preference Shares) will,
subject always to the Topco Articles, be paid by Topco to the
holders thereof before any other dividend, distribution or other
return of capital (such as a share buyback) can be paid by Topco in
respect of the Rollover Ordinary Shares (with the possibility that
no further capital is available for distribution to holders of
Rollover Ordinary Shares). In addition, upon an Exit, the proceeds
available for distribution (excluding certain costs and taxes) must
be paid in priority to the holders of A2 Preference Shares,
followed by the holders of A1 Preference Shares and B Preference
Shares in respect of accrued and unpaid amounts on any dividends
relating to the A1 Preference Shares and B Preference Shares (as
well as further amounts payable on redemption of such A1 Preference
Shares and B Preference Shares) before any remaining proceeds can
be distributed pari passu
amongst holders of Ordinary Shares (including the Rollover Ordinary
Shares) (with the possibility that no further proceeds are
available for distribution to holders of Rollover Ordinary
Shares);
·
for so long as Topco and its subsidiaries have any secured
debt outstanding and until the Preference Shares are redeemed in
full, it is not anticipated that Topco will declare or pay any
dividends on the Rollover Ordinary Shares;
·
any Exit or Refinancing will occur at the discretion of the
Topco Board (with the consent of General Atlantic) or, in the case
of an Exit only, at the discretion of General Atlantic in certain
circumstances as detailed in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement, and
holders of Rollover Securities will therefore not have control over
the date(s), terms or value(s) on or at which they may be able to
realise their investment in the Topco Group (if at all). In
particular, following expiry of the Lock-Up Period, in certain
circumstances where a Topco shareholder proposes to transfer its
securities in Topco, holders of Rollover Securities may be forced
to sell all their Rollover Securities on terms economically no less
favourable as compared to the relevant selling Topco shareholder
under the terms of a "drag along" (i.e. forced sale) provision set
out in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement. In relation to the "drag
along" provision set out in the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement:
·
save that the consideration for the transfer of B Preference
Shares on a "drag along" sale must be equal to the relevant
Preference Share Redemption Price calculated as at the date of
completion of the transfer, there is no requirement for the selling
Topco shareholder or any of its associates to proceed with an Exit
or to do so at any particular minimum price or, if they do proceed
with an Exit, to exercise the "drag along" right, and certain
exceptions to the "drag along" right apply;
·
in the event of only a partial exit, the "drag along" right
is unlikely to apply;
·
the "drag along" right may only be exercised following expiry
of the Lock-Up Period; and
·
any transfer triggering the "drag along" right may be at a
value that is less than the value of the cash consideration payable
per LTG Share in connection with the Cash Offer;
·
in relation to the "tag along right" (i.e. right to join a
sale) in connection with the Rollover Securities:
·
on a transfer of Topco securities which would result in the
purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group, holders of Rollover
Securities are entitled to sell to the purchaser all of their
Rollover Securities. However, holders of Rollover Securities will
only have a pro-rata tag right in respect of a proportion (and not
all) of their Rollover Securities on a transfer of Ordinary Shares
that would not result in the purchaser acquiring control of the
Topco Group. Therefore, this "tag along" right may not provide for
a full (or any) exit for holders of Rollover Securities;
·
certain exceptions apply which would not give rise to a "tag
along" right, including (amongst others): (i) in relation to
transfers in connection with a Refinancing or a reorganisation
transaction; or (ii) in connection with a transfer of equity
interests by General Atlantic to its associates;
·
in the case of a transfer which does not result in the
purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group and where the only
type of security being transferred is Preference Shares, the
holders of Rollover Securities will not benefit from a "tag along"
right in respect of their Preference Shares (or Ordinary
Shares);
·
there is no requirement for any Topco shareholder to transfer
securities on any known timeline; and
·
holders of Rollover Securities who exercise the "tag along"
right described above will be required to agree to the same terms
and conditions as the selling Topco shareholder and its associates
in relation to the relevant transfer, including as to price and any
covenants as a selling shareholder. The consideration payable to
holders of Rollover Securities in such circumstances may or may not
be cash and is not subject to any minimum threshold (save that the
consideration for the B Preference Shares on a transfer that would
result in the purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group must
be equal to the applicable Preference Share Redemption
Price);
·
in the event of any Exit, holders of Rollover Securities will
be required to co-operate with the Topco Group, and each
Substantial Rollover Investor and Qualifying Rollover Investor and
any other Rollover Investor who is a member of the Topco Group's
senior management team may be required to provide certain
warranties and indemnities in connection with such process, save
that it is anticipated that any business warranties and indemnities
would be given on a "fully insured" basis (provided that warranty
and indemnity insurance is available on commercially reasonable
terms (including as to pricing) in accordance with market practice
at the relevant time and in a form reasonably satisfactory to the
purchaser(s));
·
each Rollover Investor will have sole responsibility for
declaring and settling their respective tax liabilities (in each
case including all interest and penalties in relation thereto) in
each relevant jurisdiction as a result of, in respect of, by
reference to or in connection with the issue of any Rollover
Securities, Bidco Rollover Securities, Midco 3 Rollover Securities,
Midco 2 Rollover Securities and Midco 1 Rollover Securities or
otherwise the election to receive an Alternative Offer, including,
without limitation, arising from the grant, subscription, issuance,
acquisition, vesting, exercise, ownership, holding, transfer,
conversion or disposal of such securities, the variation of any
right attaching to or comprising in any such securities, being
given the right or opportunity to acquire any such securities, any
other action, event, transfer, transaction or thing done (whether
actual or deemed) at any time in relation to any such securities
(including the waiver of any loan relating to those securities), or
the entry into of any tax election related to such securities.
Under the Topco Shareholders' Agreement, the Rollover Investors
agree that the Topco Group may, where applicable, make deductions
from salary, bonuses or other employment income of the relevant
Rollover Investor for the relevant period or any subsequent period,
in order to account for any such tax liability borne by the Topco
Group on behalf of the relevant Rollover Investor; to the extent
that any such deductions are insufficient to cover any such taxes
due within 60 calendar days of such tax arising (or such shorter
time as may be required by law or regulation or as deemed necessary
or desirable by the Topco Group in order to minimise such tax),
each Rollover Investor severally covenants to pay (to the extent
permitted by law) to the relevant Topco Group company (on an
after-tax basis) an amount equal to the balance of any such taxes
which are due, within 10 calendar days of demand by the Topco
Group;
·
General Atlantic intends that all costs, fees and expenses in
connection with any Exit, reorganisation transaction or Refinancing
as determined by the Topco Board (acting reasonably) will be borne
by the Topco Group. Such costs would therefore result, directly or
indirectly, in a pro-rata reduction in the value of the investment
made by holders of Rollover Securities in the Topco Group. The
quantum of such costs, fees and expenses is not known;
·
it should be noted that the costs, fees and expenses incurred
by LTG, as well as Bidco, the Topco Group and General Atlantic, in
connection with the Acquisition will be borne by the enlarged Topco
Group. Such costs, fees and expenses will need to be funded from
existing cash resources of the enlarged Topco Group or by
additional subscription of Ordinary Shares and/or Preference Shares
by General Atlantic (with any such subscription occurring at the
same per-share price as the other Acquisition related subscriptions
by General Atlantic). The costs, fees and expenses of LTG are
currently estimated (on an indicative basis to amount to
approximately £12 million and are expected to be funded from
existing cash resources. The costs, fees and expenses of General
Atlantic are currently estimated (on an indicative basis) to amount
to approximately £26 million. Assuming that the entirety of that
amount were to be funded by General Atlantic subscribing for
Ordinary Shares and total Topco Ordinary Share capital equivalent
to £181 million of equity value (excluding such subscription),
General Atlantic would be subscribing for 12.5 per cent. of
additional Ordinary Shares, with commensurate dilution of all
Ordinary Shareholders' percentage Ordinary Share interests
(including General Atlantic's). An updated estimate of all costs,
fees and expenses will be included in the Scheme
Document;
·
in certain circumstances including a continuing default under
the Topco Group's debt financing facilities, an insolvency event
for the Topco Group, certain insolvency or material accounting or
liquidity issues for the Topco Group, the exceeding of certain
leverage thresholds by the Topco Group, significant
underperformance by the Topco Group against its initial business
plan and a failure by Topco to fully redeem all Topco Preference
Shares (at the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price) and to
purchase all of General Atlantic's Ordinary Shares (at fair market
value) within 12 months of General Atlantic serving notice on Topco
requiring the same at any time after the sixth anniversary of the
Effective Date (each a "Minority
Protection Situation"), General Atlantic has certain
enhanced governance rights pursuant to which it may acquire control
of the Topco Board and, subject to certain protected Topco
shareholder rights, take all such steps and actions and do all such
things that, in the opinion of General Atlantic (acting reasonably
and in good faith), are necessary or desirable in order to mitigate
or respond to such Minority Protection Situation. In a Minority
Protection Situation, other than certain reserved matters requiring
the consent of Rollover Investors who hold 10 per cent. or more of
the voting rights in Topco (on a fully diluted basis, including the
Warrants as if they had been exercised and converted into Ordinary
Shares in accordance with their terms at the relevant time), the
Rollover Investors will have no meaningful influence over decisions
made by the Topco Group in relation to their respective investments
in LTG or in relation to any member of the Topco Group's (or the
Group's) strategy;
·
future payments or other realisations of value, proceeds or
capital in respect of the Rollover Securities (including in
connection with an Exit or otherwise) will not be guaranteed or
secured;
·
General Atlantic, together with the holders of a Rollover
Investor Majority may, acting reasonably, amend the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and/or the Topco Articles and/or related
documents (notwithstanding any class rights) without the consent
of, and upon reasonable notice setting out the amendments to, the
other Topco shareholders, save that no such amendment will be made
which would be disproportionately adverse to the economic
(including capital and income rights), tax or legal position of the
Rollover Investors as compared to General Atlantic;
·
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement includes a number of
continuing obligations on holders of Rollover Securities,
including: (i) restrictions on saying or doing anything which may
be harmful or prejudicial to the goodwill or reputation of General
Atlantic or its associates or the Topco Group; and (ii) a
compliance covenant, which requires the Rollover Investors to
observe and fully comply with the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and
includes an undertaking to exercise their rights to give full
effect thereto (which means that circumstances may arise whereby
the Rollover Investors are obliged to vote in a particular way to
comply with this covenant, or their right to object to a variation
of class rights may be otherwise restricted). The Topco
Shareholders' Agreement also contains a power of attorney whereby
the Rollover Investors appoint Topco or General Atlantic as their
attorney to provide the consents and approvals referred to above. A
combination of such compliance covenants, the power of attorney and
the variation provisions described above and certain other
requirements in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and Topco
Articles therefore narrow the scope of class rights protections
which would otherwise be available to holders of Rollover
Securities under Jersey law;
·
eligible LTG Shareholders will only be able to elect for one
Alternative Offer (but not both);
·
LTG Shareholders will have no certainty as to whether they
will receive Rollover Securities, or the amount of Rollover
Securities they will receive, because:
·
the maximum number of Rollover Securities available to
eligible LTG Shareholders under the Alternative Offers is limited
to the Alternative Offer Cap as described in paragraph
13;
·
if and to the extent that elections for the Alternative
Offers (when taken together) cannot be satisfied in full, the
number of Rollover Securities to be issued in respect of each LTG
Share will be scaled down on a pro-rata basis, in the manner
described as described in paragraph 13, and the balance of the
consideration for each LTG Share will be paid in cash in accordance
with the terms of the Cash Offer;
·
if elections for the Alternative Offers are made that would
result in the U.S. Holders Cap being exceeded, Bidco may, at its
discretion, determine that neither Alternative Offer will be made
available and that all LTG Shareholders will instead receive cash
consideration in respect of the LTG Shares which were subject to
such an election, in accordance with the terms of the Cash Offer;
and
·
the precise numbers of securities that may be issued by Topco
from time to time cannot be ascertained at the date of this
Announcement and will depend on a variety of factors;
and
·
as certain rights and protections attaching to the Rollover
Securities will depend upon the number of Rollover Securities held
by each holder of Rollover Securities, there can therefore be no
certainty that eligible LTG Shareholders will obtain the requisite
number of Rollover Securities to afford themselves those rights and
protections.
Advantages
associated with the Alternative Offers
Advantages and other investment considerations
for LTG Shareholders in connection with the Alternative Offers may
include:
·
the Alternative Offers will allow eligible LTG Shareholders
to invest directly in Topco, providing continued (indirect)
economic exposure to the Group under private ownership and without
the costs associated with being a public company;
·
the Alternative Offers allow eligible LTG Shareholders to
participate in possible future value creation and may ultimately
deliver greater value than the Cash Offer (although this cannot be
guaranteed); and
·
from the Acquisition becoming Effective:
·
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell will maintain a
significant investment in LTG and it is General Atlantic's
intention for them to remain as the Chair and Chief Executive
Officer of LTG, respectively, and be involved in the business going
forward;
·
the Rollover Ordinary Shares will, once issued and allotted,
rank economically pari
passu with all other Ordinary Shares (including those held
by General Atlantic), including with respect to voting (subject to
the terms of the Topco Shareholders' Agreement) as well as the
right to receive and retain any distributions, dividends, share
buy-back, or any other capital redemption or returns of income or
capital made by Topco; and
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
will, once issued and allotted, rank economically pari passu with the other B Preference
Shares issued and allotted to the other holders of B Preference
Shares, including the right (along with the A1 Preference Shares)
to receive a fixed cumulative preferential dividend payable in U.S.
dollars (at an annual rate of 11 per cent. of the Issue Price of
each B Preference Share) that is made or paid. The return multiple
payable on redemption of the B Preference Shares (and therefore the
applicable Preference Share Redemption Price) is higher than the
return multiple (and therefore the applicable Preference Share
Redemption Price) payable on redemption of the A1 Preference Shares
(on account of the A1 Preference Shares being issued with the A2
Preference Shares (which do not benefit from a return multiple but
will be redeemed at their applicable Issue Price)). Further details
of the return multiples applicable to the A1 Preference Shares and
B Preference Shares are set out in the definition of Preference
Share Redemption Price.
Further information in relation to the
Alternative Offers and the Rollover Securities (including certain
advantages and disadvantages, risk factors and other investment
considerations, the key rights and restrictions attaching to the
Rollover Securities, as well as the further terms and conditions of
the Alternative Offers) and the Topco Group, is set out in this
paragraph 4, paragraph 13 and Appendix IV
(and will be included in the Scheme Document). The Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are also available
on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
5.
Background to and reasons for the Recommendation
LTG
today and its strategic transformation
LTG is a leader in the learning and talent
development market. LTG's purpose is to help its customers to
transform through their people, acting as a strategic partner
through a combination of consulting, services and technologies.
Initially an e-learning business, LTG has been through a strategic
transformation over the last ten years to build a leading position
within the evolving learning and development sector accelerated by
a track record of successful acquisitions. LTG's customer base now
includes over 6,000 organisations, addressing a dynamic business
landscape and offering one of the most comprehensive ranges of
services and technology within the sector. The Group is active with
approximately 125 of Fortune 500 companies and helps businesses to
address the global skills gap. In the financial year ended 31
December 2023, LTG enabled learning for more than 200 million
people and now employs around 5,000 people in 36 locations across
North and South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and
Africa, through a portfolio shaped into focused business units
around Content & Services and Software & Platforms with a
mission of being a world leading talent transformation
company.
LTG's "buy and build" strategy has created a
learning technologies business with a portfolio of attractive, high
margin services and software businesses. While LTG has delivered
attractive overall revenue growth over the last ten years,
significant focus has been placed on strengthening the operating
model of the businesses acquired and driving efficiencies and
margin improvements across all businesses within the Group. As a
result, LTG has a strong track record of driving performance and
enhancing returns by growing profits. This record has led to LTG
delivering meaningful value for shareholders through a total
shareholder return CAGR of over 28 per cent. for the period from
LTG's IPO in 2013 to 26 September 2024 (being the last Business Day
prior to the announcement of a possible offer for LTG by General
Atlantic).
Challenging macroeconomic environment
and structural influences impacting LTG's recent
performance
Following over a dozen acquisitions, including
the transformative acquisitions of PeopleFluent, Open LMS, Bridge
and GP Strategies, as well as new brand launches, LTG set out a new
clear strategy and financial targets for the Group at its 2022
Capital Markets Day, for the period to the end of the 2025
financial year. In the context of a dynamic and challenging
macroeconomic and uncertain business environment, LTG has not been
able to deliver these targets both in terms of organic revenue
expectations and inorganic growth through an acquisition
pipeline.
The learning and development sector is
correlated with the economic cycle and the recent macroeconomic
environment has been challenging. As the global economy has
delivered slower economic growth, companies and organisations have
sought to reduce discretionary costs and this has impacted learning
and development budgets which have been under pressure. In
addition, LTG's organic performance in recent years has been
impacted by certain structural influences, including consolidation
within the broader human resources enterprise software sector
impacting the independent provision of learning management systems,
the evolution of the application of AI within talent development
reducing custom content creation, and a normalisation and reduction
of spending by companies on learning and development following
significant increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Growth through acquisitions has been a key
pillar of the delivery of the Group's overall growth across
capabilities, revenues and profits. The Group has sought to acquire
businesses with complementary capabilities that it identified as
being under-managed, and has then sought to increase their
financial performance through use of best practices and integration
with other businesses within LTG. However, the availability of
suitable acquisition targets, which would have a meaningful impact
on the Group's growth prospects at attractive valuation levels, has
dramatically slowed. At the same time, the Group's ability to
finance these acquisitions has been notably weakened through a
combination of the structurally higher interest rate environment
and the weakening of LTG's share price and valuation rating which
removed its ability to raise equity capital. As a result, the
growth prospects of LTG are now expected to be primarily driven
through organic growth and smaller, bolt-on acquisitions, rather
than transformational acquisitions delivering meaningful acquired
growth.
Within the context of the recent macroeconomic
environment, LTG's greater reliance on organic rather than acquired
growth, as well as previously announced operational and governance
issues in the GP Strategies business, LTG's recent performance has
been impacted with declines in revenue, lower growth in
profitability and lower expectations for future performance. This
impact on LTG's ability to deliver growth, along with a perception
of some portfolio complexity given both the services and software
components to the businesses, has led to a significant reduction in
the level of its valuation rating in line with its growth adjusted
valuation rating.
Outlook for LTG
Despite the recent performance trends for LTG
being below expectations with two per cent. organic revenue decline
in 2023 financial year and approximately four per cent. organic
revenue decline in the first half of the 2024 financial year, the
LTG Board believes that the learning and development sector remains
an attractive sector on a long-term basis through the cycle. LTG's
strategy positions the business well to deliver growth and
attractive value for shareholders over the medium to long-term such
that, as the macroeconomic environment improves, the strengths of
the LTG businesses and Group strategy will enable LTG to capture
the many opportunities available to it.
The learning and development sector has
experienced important structural changes through the growing
emergence of AI and what this means for the provision and usage of
services. LTG believes that AI represents both a significant
opportunity and a challenge for the Group as it will impact the
nature, content and provision model of services to customers. While
AI provides the opportunity for substantial efficiencies in the
provision of content and services, it may also mean that some
services and activities provided by LTG will be challenged, adding
to the current pressure on demand and pricing for custom content
work. The impact of these trends on LTG has been to create
uncertainty on the outlook and business model across certain
aspects of the Group and is expected to increase the levels of
investment required to capture the opportunities created by AI.
Without such levels of investment, the outlook for LTG would be
more uncertain.
While the LTG Board believes in the Group's
strategic direction, it is cautious as to the pace at which LTG
will be able to deliver its strategy and the associated value to
LTG Shareholders. Key areas of uncertainty in the execution of
LTG's strategic plan and the delivery of value over the longer-term
include the timing of the macroeconomic cycle and its
susceptibility to external shocks and influences, the pace of the
structural decline of certain businesses such as PeopleFluent and
Reflektive, the potential threats in the industry (including the
emergence and path of AI, lower custom content demand, as well as
human resources enterprise software consolidation), and LTG's
ability to execute on its acquisition strategy and drive value
through inorganic growth given LTG's current share price and
valuation rating.
The LTG Board remains confident in the
short-term delivery of its expectations for the financial
performance of LTG as set out at the time of the announcement on 17
September 2024 of the interim results for the six months ended 30
June 2024. The LTG Board is also confident in the longer-term
potential opportunity to deliver value to LTG Shareholders through
the strength of LTG's businesses, their strategies and positioning.
However, risks and uncertainties remain in the delivery of this
approach and the LTG Board remains cautious on the timing and level
of delivery over the medium to long-term outlook for
LTG.
Proposal from General Atlantic and the
process to consider the Cash Offer
The LTG Board did not solicit an offer for LTG.
However, the LTG Board regularly considers all options for driving
and improving shareholder value as highlighted by the recent sales
of the VectorVMS business to PIXID Group for US$50 million and the
Lorien Engineering Solutions business to NIRAS Group for US$21.4
million. The initial unsolicited proposals received from General
Atlantic for LTG were not at a level that the LTG Board felt
adequately reflected an appropriate valuation of LTG and its future
prospects. In assessing the proposals received from General
Atlantic, the LTG Board undertook a thorough process to compare the
value of the proposals with the alternatives for LTG Shareholders.
The process undertaken by the LTG Board included:
·
the receipt of advice from independent financial and legal
advisers throughout the process;
·
consideration of the outlook and strategic plan for LTG in
detail. This process considered the short, medium and long-term
perspectives on outlook for LTG's businesses; and
·
detailed process and valuation assessments of the outlook for
LTG using a number of valuation methodologies that assess
shorter-term and longer-term perspectives on LTG. This included
discounted cash flow analysis, present value of future share price
analysis as well as a comparison to comparable current and
long-term trading and precedent transaction valuation multiples
experienced over extended cycles.
The valuation assessment of LTG focused on
comparing the value delivered to LTG Shareholders over a reasonable
period of time on a risk adjusted outlook for LTG relative to the
value of the Cash Offer. The assessment focused on long-term and
medium-term valuation analysis to ensure that it fully captured the
recovery of LTG from both an earnings and valuation rating
perspective through the macroeconomic cycle and delivery of the
Group's strategy.
General Atlantic made a number of proposals over
an extended period of several months. While this was a period where
LTG was managing a combination of a challenging downward trading
environment and complex stakeholder relationships, the level of
General Atlantic's proposal and the implied valuation rating
reached a level where the LTG Board felt that more detailed
engagement was appropriate. In order to facilitate General Atlantic
reaching the level of this proposal and the improvement in the
implied valuation rating, selected due diligence information,
including access to LTG's management, was provided by LTG to
General Atlantic.
On the basis that the proposal from General
Atlantic reflects Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell each providing
an irrevocable undertaking to support the Acquisition and to elect
for an Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of
their shareholdings, the LTG Board formed an independent committee
comprising all LTG Directors excluding Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell to consider the proposal. The Independent LTG Directors
benefitted from the experience of both executive and non-executive
members of the LTG Board and the independent committee includes all
independent members of the LTG Board. The Independent LTG Directors
considered the proposal from General Atlantic and Bidco and the
financial advice received from Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Numis to
assess their recommendation. Neither Andrew Brode nor Jonathan
Satchell has participated in the decision to make the
recommendation referred to above.
Considerations in respect of the Cash
Offer
In considering the financial terms of the Cash
Offer and determining whether they reflect an appropriate valuation
of LTG and its future prospects, the Independent LTG Directors took
into account a number of factors including that:
·
the Cash Offer reflects the strength of LTG and its future
prospects, including a return to revenue growth and full
contribution from LTG's business with the United States Government,
and provides an opportunity for LTG Shareholders to realise, in
cash, the value of their investments at a fair and reasonable
value;
·
the certainty of the value of the Cash Offer should be
weighed against the inherent uncertainty of the delivery of future
value that exists in the business, in particular given the current
uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment and the delivery of
LTG's strategic plan;
·
the impact of a higher cost of capital environment
fundamentally impacting general business outlook, valuation
ratings, ability to raise equity financing and range of organic and
inorganic opportunities available to LTG in the future;
·
the terms of the Cash Offer represent an attractive premium
of 34 per cent. to the Closing Price on 26 September 2024 (being
the last Business Day before the commencement of the Offer Period),
40 per cent. to the volume weighted average price in the month to
26 September 2024, and 44 per cent. to the volume weighted average
price since the announcement of LTG's trading update
on 24 July 2024 in respect of the six months ended 30 June
2024;
·
the terms of the Cash Offer imply an enterprise value
multiple of approximately 9.4 times LTG's Adjusted EBIT[4] for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023;
and
·
the Acquisition delivers more risk-adjusted immediate value
to LTG Shareholders than other options considered by the LTG Board,
including a break up of LTG with the associated execution risks and
areas of value leakage such as tax and transaction
costs.
Accordingly, the Independent LTG Directors
believe that the Cash Offer represents an attractive opportunity
for LTG Shareholders to realise an immediate and certain cash value
today for their investment at a level which may not be achievable
through the execution of the Group's strategy over the medium to
longer-term.
In considering the Acquisition, the Independent
LTG Directors have taken into account Bidco's stated intentions for
the business and its employees.
Following careful consideration of the financial
terms of the Cash Offer, the combination of value and certainty
that the terms of the Cash Offer provide to shareholders, and the
above factors, the Independent LTG Directors intend to recommend
unanimously the Cash Offer to LTG Shareholders. The Independent LTG
Directors who hold or are beneficially entitled to LTG Shares have
each irrevocably undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in favour
of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the
General Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of
such Offer) in respect of all of their (and their connected
persons') LTG Shares being, in aggregate, a total of 13,897,147 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 1.75 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement).
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell have
indicated that they believe that the Cash Offer represents a full
valuation of LTG and that they would be willing to accept
the Cash Offer of 100 pence per LTG Share. In line with this
position, Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell are supportive of the
recommendation of the Independent LTG Directors to LTG
Shareholders. However, the terms of the proposal from General
Atlantic reflect Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell, electing for
an Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of
their shareholdings to enable the Cash Offer to all LTG
Shareholders to proceed. Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell
therefore have each irrevocably undertaken to elect for an
Alternative Offer in respect of all or substantially all of their
shareholdings. In addition, Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell have
each further irrevocably undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in
favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the
General Meeting (or, in the event that the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of
such Offer) in respect of all of their (and their connected
persons') LTG Shares being, in aggregate, a total of 190,062,090
LTG Shares (representing approximately 23.99 per cent. of the
existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024,
being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
6.
Irrevocable undertakings
As described above, Bidco has received
irrevocable undertakings from the Independent LTG Directors who
hold or are beneficially entitled to LTG Shares to vote (or procure
voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the
Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) in respect of all of their (and their
connected persons') LTG Shares being, in aggregate, a total of
13,897,147 LTG Shares (representing approximately 1.75 per cent. of
the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement). These undertakings will remain binding in the event
a higher competing offer for LTG is made.
In addition to the irrevocable undertakings from
the Independent LTG Directors who hold or are beneficially entitled
to LTG Shares, as described in paragraph 4, Bidco has also received
irrevocable undertakings as described below.
Andrew Brode, Chairman of LTG and a
Non-Independent LTG Director, has undertaken to vote (or procure
voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the
Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) and to elect to receive Alternative Offer
1 in respect of his entire beneficial holding of LTG Shares, being
a total of 117,098,930 LTG Shares (representing approximately 14.78
per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3
December 2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement). The undertaking will remain binding in the event a
higher competing offer for LTG is made.
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive Officer and
an executive director of LTG, and a Non-Independent LTG Director,
has undertaken to vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme
at the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or,
in the event that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an
Offer, to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer) in respect of
his entire beneficial holding of LTG Shares, being a total of
72,963,160 LTG Shares (representing approximately 9.21 per cent. of
the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement), and to elect to receive: (i) the Cash Offer in
respect of 2,800,000 of his LTG Shares (representing approximately
0.35 per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG
on 3 December 2024, being the last Business Day before the date of
this Announcement); and (ii) an Alternative Offer in respect of
70,163,160 of his LTG Shares (representing approximately 8.86 per
cent. of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3
December 2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement. The undertaking will remain binding in the event a
higher competing offer for LTG is made.
Monique Vasconcelos has undertaken to vote (or
procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and
the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) in respect of her entire beneficial
holding of LTG Shares, being a total of 13,932,059 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 1.76 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The undertaking
will remain binding in the event a higher competing offer for LTG
is made.
Richard Griffiths has undertaken to vote (or
procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and
the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) in respect of a total of 2,125,595 LTG
Shares (representing approximately 0.27 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement). The
undertaking will lapse and cease to be binding in the event a
competing offer for LTG is made and the consideration payable for
each LTG Share under such offer represents a premium of more than
10 per cent. to the price per LTG Share being offered at that time
by Bidco (or anyone acting in concert with Bidco) in connection
with the Acquisition.
Bidco has, therefore, received irrevocable
undertakings to vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at
the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in
the event that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer,
to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer) in respect of a
total of 220,016,891 LTG Shares (representing approximately 27.77
per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3
December 2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
As noted in paragraph
13, Bidco has also received irrevocable
undertakings to elect for the Alternative Offers in respect of
187,262,090 LTG Shares (representing approximately 23.63 per cent.
of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
Further information in relation to these
irrevocable undertakings, including the circumstances in which the
irrevocable undertakings may lapse or cease to be binding, is set
out in Appendix III.
7.
Information relating to Bidco, the Intermediate Midcos, Topco and
General Atlantic
Bidco
Bidco is a private limited company registered in
England and Wales and incorporated on 13 November 2024. Bidco is an
entity owned directly by Midco 3 and indirectly by Topco. Bidco was
formed for the purposes of the Acquisition and has not traded since
its date of incorporation, nor has it entered into any obligations
other than in connection with the Acquisition.
Midco 3
Midco 3 is a private limited company registered
in England and Wales and incorporated on 13 November 2024. Midco 3
is an entity owned directly by Midco 2 and indirectly by Topco.
Midco 3 was formed for the purposes of the Acquisition and has not
traded since its date of incorporation, nor has it entered into any
obligations other than in connection with the
Acquisition.
Midco 2
Midco 2 is a private limited company registered
in England and Wales and incorporated on 12 November 2024. Midco 2
is an entity owned directly by Midco 1 and indirectly by Topco.
Midco 2 was formed for the purposes of the Acquisition and has not
traded since its date of incorporation, nor has it entered into any
obligations other than in connection with the
Acquisition.
Midco 1
Midco 1 is a private limited company registered
in England and Wales and incorporated on 12 November 2024. Midco 1
is an entity owned directly by Topco. Midco 1 was formed for the
purposes of the Acquisition and has not traded since its date of
incorporation, nor has it entered into any obligations other than
in connection with the Acquisition.
Topco
Topco is a private limited company registered in
Jersey and incorporated on 12 November 2024. Topco was formed for
the purposes of the Acquisition. Topco is currently a subsidiary of
(and indirectly owned by) General Atlantic. Topco was formed for
the purposes of the Acquisition and has not traded since its date
of incorporation, nor has it entered into any obligations other
than in connection with the Acquisition.
General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a global growth investor
founded in 1980. The firm has approximately US$100 billion in
assets under management and 225 current investments, employing more
than 900 professionals. General Atlantic seeks to identify
investment themes that are driven by innovation and
entrepreneurship and supported by growth. Its products include
growth equity, credit, energy transition and
infrastructure.
As noted in paragraph
3, Atlantic Park is General Atlantic's Strategic
Capital Solutions franchise. Atlantic Park is focused on creating
flexible and sustainable capital structures to support high quality
companies, management teams and entrepreneurs to achieve their
long-term objectives and deliver growth in a sustainable way.
Atlantic Park's mandates are highly flexible in nature and can take
many forms (including investments across the capital
structure).
Certain further information relating to Topco
and Bidco (and the Intermediate Midcos), as well as the Rollover
Securities, is contained in Appendix IV.
8.
Information relating to LTG
LTG is a key player in the growing workplace
digital training and learning and talent development market. LTG
offers end-to-end learning and talent solutions ranging from
strategic consultancy, through a range of content and platform
solutions to analytical insights that enable corporate and
government clients to close the gap between current and future
workforce capability.
LTG is a public limited company registered in
England and Wales. The LTG Shares are traded on AIM, a market
operated by the London Stock Exchange (LTG.L) and headquartered in
London. LTG has offices in Europe, North America, South America and
Asia-Pacific.
9.
Group current trading update
On 17 September 2024, LTG announced its half
year results for the six months ended 30 June 2024 and provided an
update on current trading, including LTG's outlook for the full
financial year to 31 December 2024. LTG stated that it expected
revenue to be in the range of £473 million to £493 million with
Adjusted EBIT of £86 million to £91 million for the financial year
ended 31 December 2024 (based on an average GBP:USD rate of 1.31
for the second half of the 2024 financial year, and including a
contribution from VectorVMS during the first half of the 2024
financial year prior to the completion of the sale of this business
on 1 July 2024).[5] At that time, the LTG
Board commented that it expected LTG to be towards the bottom of
the range given current trading, in particular at GP
Strategies.
As such, the LTG Board expects Adjusted EBIT
performance to be in the lower end of the range stated on 17
September 2024.
Ongoing macroeconomic and political uncertainty
continue to affect the decision-making of the Group's customers and
reduce the budgets allocated for LTG's technologies and services.
Whilst the LTG Board remains confident in the long-term outlook for
the business, it anticipates that such headwinds will continue to
impact the performance of LTG for at least the remainder of the
current financial year and into 2025. The LTG Board therefore
expects revenue performance to be flat in the 2025 financial year
as compared to the anticipated outturn for 2024 (after excluding a
contribution from VectorVMS' performance during the first half of
the 2024 financial year and assuming an average GBP:USD rate of
1.29).
10.
Financing of the Acquisition
The cash consideration payable to LTG
Shareholders by Bidco under the terms of the Acquisition together
with certain fees and expenses in connection with the Acquisition
will be financed by a combination of: (i) equity to be invested by
General Atlantic; and (ii) debt to be provided under an Interim
Facilities Agreement provided by certain third party lenders
comprising approximately a US$526,367,080 interim term loan
facility (in respect of which Bidco has obtained fully underwritten
commitments from certain third party lenders to provide such
facilities pursuant to the Interim Facilities
Agreement).
The majority of the equity to be invested by General
Atlantic to fund the Acquisition will be subscribed, in a maximum
amount of up to a U.S. dollar equivalent of approximately £228.4
million, by way of a subscription of A1 Preference Shares at a U.S.
dollar price per share that is equal to the 100 pence per LTG Share
in respect of the Cash Offer (subject to an initial offer discount
to such price of three per cent.). General Atlantic's subscription
of A1 Preference Shares will be scaled back from such maximum
amount if and to the extent that any B Preference Shares are issued
in connection with valid elections for Alternative Offer 2, by such
amount as is commensurate with the number of B Preference Shares
issued. The remainder of General Atlantic's equity will be invested
through subscribing for Ordinary Shares at a U.S. dollar price per
share that is equal to the 100 pence per LTG Share in respect of
the Cash Offer. Further information is set out in paragraph 4 of
Appendix IV.
Bidco has also entered into specific foreign
currency hedging arrangements to address foreign currency
fluctuations between the date of this Announcement and the time of
payment of the cash consideration to LTG Shareholders in connection
with the Acquisition because the interim term loan facility under
the Interim Facilities Agreement is denominated in U.S. dollars
whereas the cash consideration payable to LTG Shareholders in
connection with the Acquisition is denominated in GBP.These
foreign currency hedging arrangements will also address foreign
currency fluctuations between the date of this Announcement and the
time of General Atlantic's cash subscription for equity in Topco as
described above.
Certain of General Atlantic's equity commitments
are intended to be provided by equity co-investors in investment
vehicles managed by General Atlantic (such co-investors would be
passive and not be granted any governance or control rights over
Bidco or any member of the Bidco Group or LTG).
PJT Partners, in its capacity as lead financial
adviser to Bidco, confirms that it is satisfied that
sufficient resources are available to Bidco to satisfy in full the
cash consideration payable to LTG Shareholders under the terms of
the Acquisition.
11.
Directors, management, employees, pensions, research and
development and locations
Bidco's strategic plans for
LTG
As set out in paragraph 3, Bidco believes that
now is the optimal time for LTG to re-enter private ownership in
order to achieve the growth and innovation required for LTG to
navigate the micro and macroeconomic factors it is facing, whilst
keeping up with the pace of change in the industry and maintaining
a leadership position in the workplace digital training and
learning and talent development market.
Prior to this Announcement, consistent with
market practice, Bidco was granted access to the Group's senior
management for the purposes of confirmatory due diligence. However,
Bidco has not yet had access to all the relevant information to
undertake a full evaluation of LTG and its businesses.
Following the Acquisition becoming Effective,
Bidco therefore intends to work with LTG's management to undertake
a detailed evaluation of LTG to assess the business and operations
of LTG in the context of its existing strategic plan (which is
designed to stabilise LTG's businesses which are currently in
decline and to achieve growth) and General Atlantic's approach to
portfolio management. Bidco expects that this evaluation will be
completed within approximately 12 months of the Effective Date. The
evaluation will include:
·
reviewing the strategy and structure of each of LTG's
divisions, including their product ranges, markets, and the types
and terms of customer contracts;
·
reviewing LTG's business for particular areas that are
susceptible to, or impacted by, the rise in generative
AI;
·
reviewing the geographical footprint of LTG;
·
engaging with the key stakeholders (including regulators) of
each of LTG's businesses;
·
evaluating potential opportunities in existing LTG divisions
and products to support LTG's growth and overall strategy,
including areas for further investments in technology;
·
identifying any opportunities for cost synergies, including
headcount reductions and the rationalisation or combination of
entities, physical offices and/or facilities;
·
evaluating opportunities to strengthen LTG's balance
sheet;
·
identifying any areas of LTG's business which could benefit
from further investment and/or inorganic growth via acquisitions,
as well as areas of LTG's business or assets which might have
better prospects outside LTG and could be divested in order to
optimise the core areas of LTG's business (including evaluating
and/or implementing any such opportunities already identified or in
progress by LTG as part of its existing plans and announced
strategy of active portfolio management). It is therefore possible
that certain businesses or assets may be identified (or acquisition
or divestment processes commenced or continued) within the first 12
months after the Acquisition becomes Effective. However, Bidco has
no intentions in this regard and further work is required as part
of the evaluation process; and
·
reviewing the structure of the Group and identifying any
opportunities to optimise the legal entity structure of the Group
and Bidco. In particular, due diligence work conducted to-date has
identified that there may be scope within the Group for a legal
entity reorganisation of parts of LTG's business in the United
States. It is envisaged that, subject to the outcome of the
evaluation process, such a reorganisation may commence within the
first 12 months after the Acquisition becomes Effective.
Prior to receiving the outcome of this
evaluation and save as described above, Bidco has no intention of
changing LTG's strategic plans. However, Bidco believes that LTG
will be better positioned as a private company with a higher degree
of flexibility and operational focus, away from the public markets,
to implement any changes to LTG which result from this evaluation.
Given the ongoing disruption and fast pace of change within the
industry, Bidco considers that having greater capacity and
flexibility to act more promptly as a private company, for example
in relation to investment decisions, will be significant to the
performance of LTG and its capacity to optimise its portfolio in
the future.
Employees and
management
Bidco attaches great importance to the skills,
experience and commitment of LTG's management and employees and
recognises the important contribution that LTG's management and
employees have made to the success of the business. Bidco looks
forward to working with the employees and the management team
following the Acquisition becoming Effective.
Bidco, through the due diligence process, has
been impressed with the leadership of LTG and its business units,
and intends that each of Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell will
remain as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, of
LTG under private ownership following the Acquisition becoming
Effective.
Bidco recognises that in order to achieve the
expected benefits of the Acquisition, some operational and
administrative restructuring may be required after the Acquisition
becomes Effective. In particular, once the admission of LTG's
Shares to trading on AIM is cancelled and LTG becomes a private
limited company, a limited number of public company-related
functions will be reduced in scope or be reorientated to align with
LTG's new status as a private company. This may result in a
reduction of roles in these specific areas but would not be a
material reduction in headcount in the context of the
Group.
To the extent that actions have not been taken
prior to completion of the Acquisition, Bidco intends to undertake
cost cutting measures across LTG's businesses, which will result in
headcount reductions, but these headcount reductions are not
intended to be material within the context of LTG.
It is intended that headcount reductions will
be addressed (where possible) through reallocating staff from
discontinued roles to other appropriate new roles or those created
by growth-related opportunities, as well as through natural
attrition. Bidco confirms that its intention is for any individuals
impacted to be treated in a manner consistent with LTG's high
standards, culture and practices.
Bidco also notes that, through the diligence
process, it has identified that the headcount of LTG (and its
employment model) is highly flexible, reflecting the level of
customer demand for its products and services as well as underlying
market conditions at a given time. Bidco does not intend for there
to be any change to the normal working practices of LTG in this
regard.
If any reduction in headcount and/or
reorganisation is required, Bidco would operate in an open and
transparent manner and will work with the LTG management team with
the aim of maintaining operational momentum. The finalisation and
implementation of any integration, reorganisation and workforce
reductions will be subject to detailed and comprehensive planning,
and to appropriate engagement (including, where applicable,
consultation) with stakeholders, including affected employees and
any appropriate employee representative bodies in accordance with
applicable legal obligations. Bidco would commence this engagement
(including, where applicable, consultation) process long enough
before any final decision is taken to implement any job reductions
so as to ensure that relevant legal obligations are complied
with.
It is also intended that, upon completion of
the Acquisition, all of the LTG Directors, other than Andrew Brode
and Jonathan Satchell, will resign from their office as a director
of LTG.
Save as described above, Bidco has no
intentions, nor have any proposals been developed, with regard to
changing the terms of employment of the management and employees of
LTG.
In addition, save as described above, Bidco does
not intend to make any material change in the balance of skills and
functions of LTG's management and employees (unless otherwise
agreed with the relevant employee).
Existing rights and pension
schemes
Bidco confirms that, following the Acquisition
becoming Effective, the existing contractual and statutory
employment rights and terms and conditions of employment, including
pension rights, of the LTG management and employees will be fully
safeguarded in accordance with applicable law.
LTG makes available to certain employees a
defined contribution pension scheme and auto enrolment scheme in
accordance with its legal obligations, but does not itself offer
any group defined benefit pension scheme. Bidco does not intend to
make any changes to the current employer pension contribution
arrangements, the accrual of benefits for existing members or the
rights of admission of new members.
Management incentive
arrangements
No discussions have been entered into, or
proposals been made, in relation to the terms of any form of
incentivisation arrangements with relevant employees or members of
LTG's management and Bidco does not intend to have any discussions
in this regard prior to the Effective Date. Following the Effective
Date, Bidco intends to review the management, governance and
incentive structure of LTG and will look to put in place
appropriate incentivisation arrangements for relevant members of
the LTG management team.
Headquarters, locations, fixed assets
and research and development
Following the Acquisition becoming Effective,
and subject to the evaluation referred to above, Bidco intends that
LTG will continue to operate as a standalone business group within
General Atlantic's broader portfolio.
Until the evaluation referred to above is
complete, save as described above, Bidco has no intentions as
regards any potential changes in the locations of LTG's places of
business (including no intentions with respect to changing the
location or functions of LTG's headquarters in London).
No changes are intended with respect to the
redeployment of LTG's fixed asset base and, to Bidco's knowledge,
LTG has no specific research and development function and does not
intend for this to change, although Bidco intends to continue its
investment in ongoing research and development activities within
the LTG business units.
Trading facilities
LTG Shares are admitted to trading on AIM. An
application will be made to the London Stock Exchange, conditional
upon the Acquisition becoming Effective, for the cancellation of
the admission to trading of LTG Shares on AIM with effect on or
shortly after the Effective Date and steps will be taken to
re-register LTG as a private company as soon as practicable on or
following the Effective Date.
None of the statements in this paragraph
11 are "post-offer undertakings" for the
purposes of Rule 19.5 of the Code.
Views of the LTG Board
In considering the recommendation of the Cash
Offer to LTG Shareholders, the Independent LTG Directors have given
due consideration to the assurances given to employees within
LTG.
The Independent LTG Directors welcome Bidco's
intentions with respect to the future operations of the business
and its employees, in particular, the intentions to observe the
existing contractual and statutory employment rights of LTG
employees and pension obligations, to make no material changes to
the balance of skills and functions of employees across LTG, to
work with LTG's management going forward and with no intentions
with respect to a change to the location of LTG's headquarters or
to any place of business.
12.
Offer-related arrangements
Confidentiality
Agreement
General Atlantic and LTG have entered into a
confidentiality agreement dated 9 July 2024 in relation to the
Acquisition (the "Confidentiality
Agreement") pursuant to which, among other things, General
Atlantic gave certain undertakings to: (i) subject to certain
exceptions, keep information relating to LTG and the Acquisition
confidential and not to disclose it to third parties; and (ii) use
such confidential information only in connection with the
Acquisition. These confidentiality obligations will remain in force
for a period of two years from the date of the Confidentiality
Agreement.
Under the Confidentiality Agreement, General
Atlantic is also subject to customary non-solicitation obligations
for a period of 12 months from the date of the Confidentiality
Agreement. In addition, General Atlantic agreed to certain
standstill undertakings, all of which ceased to apply upon the
release of this Announcement.
Co-operation Agreement
Bidco and LTG have entered into a co-operation
agreement dated 4 December 2024 (the "Co-operation Agreement"), pursuant to
which: (i) Bidco has agreed to use "all reasonable efforts" to
co-operate with LTG and its professional advisers Announcement,
secure the Clearances and satisfy the Regulatory Conditions as soon
as reasonably practicable and in any event in sufficient time to
enable the Effective Date to occur by the Long-Stop Date; (ii) each
party has agreed to provide information, assistance and access in
relation to obtaining the relevant consents, clearances,
permissions, waivers and/or approvals as may be necessary, and the
making of all filings as may be necessary, from or under the law,
regulations or practices applied by any applicable regulatory
authority in connection with the Acquisition; and (iii) Bidco to
provide certain information for the purposes of the Scheme Document
and to assist with the preparation of the Scheme
Document.
The Co-operation Agreement also records Bidco's
and LTG's intention to implement the Acquisition by way of the
Scheme, subject to the ability of Bidco to proceed by way of an
Offer in accordance with and subject to the terms of the
Co-operation Agreement.
Pursuant to the terms of the Co-operation
Agreement, Bidco undertakes that it will deliver a notice in
writing to LTG on the Business Day before the Sanction Hearing
(provided that such notice shall be revocable by Bidco at any time
prior to the Sanction Hearing) confirming either: (i) the
satisfaction or waiver of the Conditions (other than Condition
2(c)(i) set out in Part A of Appendix I);
or (ii) to the extent permitted by the Panel, that it intends to
invoke or treat as unsatisfied or incapable of satisfaction one or
more Conditions, and in each case provided the Sanction Hearing
shall not be less than ten Business Days after the date of
satisfaction or, if applicable, waiver of all Conditions (other
than Condition 2(c)(i) set out in Part A
of Appendix I).
The Co-operation Agreement also contains
provisions that will apply in respect of the LTG Share Plans and
certain other employee incentive arrangements.
The Co-operation Agreement will be terminated
with immediate effect if: (i) agreed in writing between Bidco and
LTG at any time prior to the Effective Date; (ii) this Announcement
is not released via a Regulatory Information Service at or before
5.00 p.m. (London time) on 4 December 2024 (unless, prior to that
time, Bidco and LTG have agreed another later time and date); (iii)
the Acquisition is withdrawn, terminated or lapses in accordance
with its terms prior to the Long-Stop Date (and with the Panel's
consent, where required), other than where such lapse or withdrawal
is as a result of Bidco exercising its right to switch from the
Scheme to an Offer, or it is followed within ten Business Days (or
such other period as LTG and Bidco may agree) by an announcement
under Rule 2.7 of the Code made by Bidco (or any person acting in
concert with Bidco) to implement the Acquisition by way of a
different takeover offer or scheme of arrangement; (iv) the Scheme
is not approved by LTG Shareholders at the Court Meeting and/or the
Resolution is not passed at the General Meeting or the Court
refuses to sanction the Scheme; (v) unless otherwise agreed by the
parties in writing or required by the Panel, if the Effective Date
has not occurred by the Long-Stop Date; or (vi) on the Effective
Date.
Bidco has the right to terminate the
Co-operation Agreement if: (i) an Adverse Recommendation Change
occurs (as defined in the Co-operation Agreement); (ii) the Court
Meeting and the General Meeting are not held on or before the 22nd
day after the expected date of the Court Meeting or the General
Meeting (or such later date as may be agreed in writing between the
parties with the consent of the Panel and the approval of the Court
(if such consent and/or approval is required)); or (iii) the
Sanction Hearing is not held on or before 30 days after all
Conditions have been satisfied or waived (or such later date as may
be agreed in writing between the parties with the consent of the
Panel and the approval of the Court (if such consent and/or
approval is required)).
Either party has the right to terminate the
Co-operation Agreement if, prior to the Long-Stop Date: (i) any
Condition has been invoked by Bidco (where such invocation of the
relevant Condition has been permitted by the Panel); or (ii) a
competing proposal completes, becomes effective or is declared or
becomes unconditional.
13. The
Alternative Offers
As noted in paragraph 2, as an alternative to
the cash consideration payable in connection with the Cash Offer,
eligible LTG Shareholders may elect, in respect of all or part of
their holding of LTG Shares, to ultimately receive either (but not
both) of the following types of Rollover Securities, in each case
in lieu of any cash consideration under the Cash Offer:
for each LTG Share: 1 Rollover Ordinary
Share ("Alternative Offer 1")
or
for each LTG Share: 0.8252 of a Rollover
Ordinary Share and 0.2000 of a B Preference Share ("Alternative
Offer 2"),
each an "Alternative Offer" and together, the
"Alternative
Offers".
The maximum number of Ordinary Shares available
to eligible LTG Shareholders under the Alternative Offers will
(when taken together) be limited to such number (represented by
valid elections) as is equal to 85 per cent. of the total issued
ordinary share capital in Topco (on a fully diluted basis,
including the Warrants to be held by General Atlantic as if they
had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in
accordance with their terms at the relevant time) (the
"Alternative Offer
Cap").
If elections are validly received for an
Alternative Offer from eligible LTG Shareholders in respect of a
number of LTG Shares that would require the issue of Ordinary
Shares available under the Alternative Offers (when taken together)
to exceed the Alternative Offer Cap, such elections will be unable
to be satisfied in full. In these circumstances, subject to
implementation of the Rollover Mechanism (as described
below):
·
the number of Ordinary Shares that are to be issued to each LTG
Shareholder who has made a valid election for an Alternative
Offer will be scaled back down to equal the Alternative Offer Cap
on a pro-rata basis (being pro-rata to the number of Ordinary
Shares in respect of which elections have been validly received);
and
·
if and to the extent that a valid election has been made for
Alternative Offer 2, the number of B Preference Shares that
are to be issued to the relevant LTG Shareholder will be scaled
back on the basis of the same ratio that is applied to the scaling
back down of the Ordinary Shares,
and the balance of the consideration for each LTG
Share will be paid in cash in accordance with the terms of the Cash
Offer (the "Scaling
Back").
In the event that Bidco elects, with the consent of
the Panel and subject to the Co-operation Agreement, to switch to
an Offer, and less than 100 per cent. of the LTG Shares are
acquired by Bidco, Bidco reserves the right to amend the
Alternative Offer Cap with the consent of the Panel. The
availability of the Alternative Offers is not conditional upon a
minimum number of valid elections having been made by LTG
Shareholders.
If the Scheme becomes Effective, eligible LTG
Shareholders who validly elect for an Alternative Offer will
receive: (i) their Rollover Securities pursuant to the Rollover
Mechanism to be set out in further details the Scheme Document (and
as summarised in Appendix IV) whereby, on or shortly after the
Effective Date, the relevant LTG Shares of the relevant LTG
Shareholder will be exchanged for loan notes to be issued by Bidco
which will then be exchanged, directly or indirectly (and subject
to the exercise of associated put or call options), for the
relevant number of Rollover Securities to which the relevant LTG
Shareholder is entitled in accordance with the terms and conditions
of the relevant Alternative Offer; and (ii) if applicable, as a
result of an invalid election, a partial election for the
Alternative Offer, any Scaling Back as described above and/or Bidco
exercising its discretion in connection with the U.S. Holders Cap
(as described below), the cash consideration in respect of the
relevant LTG Shareholder's holding or remaining holding (as
applicable) that has not been exchanged pursuant to an Alternative
Offer.
Any fractional entitlements of each LTG
Shareholder who has validly elected for Rollover Securities under
an Alternative Offer in respect of their LTG Shares will be rounded
down, in each case to the nearest whole number of Rollover Ordinary
Shares and B Preference Shares (as applicable) per LTG Shareholder.
Fractional entitlements to the Rollover Securities will not be
allotted or issued to such LTG Shareholder but will be
disregarded.
Eligible LTG Shareholders who wish to make an
election for an Alternative Offer will be required, as a condition
to their election being treated as valid and to Rollover Securities
being issued to them, to provide certain preliminary "know your
customer" information to Topco's Corporate Services Provider (being
such information required in order to comply with applicable
anti-money laundering, sanctions or "know your customer" laws) or
as otherwise reasonably required by Bidco, Topco or General
Atlantic. Details regarding the information to be provided, and the
manner in which it must be provided, will be set out in the Scheme
Document, the Form(s) of Election and the KYC Form(s). Failure to
provide the required information will result in any elections for
the relevant Alternative Offer being treated as invalid and
eligible LTG Shareholders who made such an invalid election will
instead receive the cash consideration payable under the Cash Offer
in respect of the number of LTG Shares for which they purported to
make an election for the relevant Alternative Offer. In addition,
if and to the extent required by applicable anti-money laundering,
sanctions or "know your customer" laws, eligible LTG Shareholders
who receive Rollover Securities may be required to provide Topco's
Corporate Services Provider with further "know your customer"
information following or in connection with the issue of Rollover
Securities to them and information regarding this will be set out
in the Scheme Document. Failure to provide such further information
may result in the directors of Topco placing such restrictions as
they think fit on the relevant holders of the Rollover Securities
pursuant to the Topco Articles. These restrictions may include
suspending a person's ability to transfer the Rollover Securities
or to receive dividends or other distributions in respect of them.
A copy of the KYC Form(s) for completion of the "know your
customer" information is expected to be made available at the time
of publication of the Scheme Document.
LTG Shareholders who do not validly elect for an
Alternative Offer (including those who make an election for an
Alternative Offer but fail to provide the required "know your
customer" information in the manner described above or otherwise
fail the requisite "know your customer" checks), will automatically
receive the full amount of the cash consideration pursuant to the
Cash Offer in respect of their entire holding of LTG
Shares.
For the purposes of Rule 24.11 of the Code, PJT
Partners, as lead financial adviser to Bidco, will provide an
independent valuation and estimate of the value of (in respect of
Alternative Offer 1) the Ordinary Shares and (in respect of
Alternative Offer 2) the Ordinary Shares and the B Preference
Shares, together with the assumptions, qualifications and caveats
forming the basis of its estimate of value, in a letter to be
included in the Scheme Document.
The Rollover Ordinary Shares and the B
Preference Shares will have the rights as set out in the Topco
Articles and will further be subject to the terms and conditions of
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement. The issue of the Rollover
Securities pursuant to the Alternative Offers, as well as the loan
notes and put and call options, is subject to the Conditions and
further terms set out in Appendix I (and to be set out in the
Scheme Document). Further information in relation to the
Alternative Offers and the Rollover Securities (including certain
advantages and disadvantages, risk factors and other investment
considerations, the key rights and restrictions attaching to the
Rollover Securities, as well as the further terms and conditions of
the Alternative Offers) and the Topco Group, is set out in
paragraph 4, the remainder of this paragraph 13 and Appendix IV
(and will be included in the Scheme Document). The Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are also available
on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
Other important notes in relation to the
Alternative Offers
The Rollover Securities are not being offered,
sold, resold, taken up, transferred or delivered, directly or
indirectly, in, into or from any Restricted Jurisdiction or to, or
for the account or benefit of, any Overseas Shareholders who are
resident in, or are nationals or citizens of, any Restricted
Jurisdiction (or who are nominees, custodians, trustees or
guardians for, citizens, residents or nationals of such Restricted
Jurisdictions), except pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or
in a transaction not subject to, applicable securities laws of
those jurisdictions and/or where all regulatory approvals (where
applicable) have been validly obtained. Any individual acceptances
of an Alternative Offer will only be valid if all regulatory
approvals by an LTG Shareholder to acquire the relevant Rollover
Securities have been obtained.
The Rollover Securities have not been, and will
not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or applicable
state securities laws. Accordingly, the Rollover Securities may not
be offered, sold, resold, taken up, transferred or delivered,
directly or indirectly, in the United States absent registration or
an available exemption or a transaction not subject to the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. Accordingly,
the Rollover Ordinary Shares and/or B Preference Shares will not be
allotted issued to LTG Shareholders unless Bidco determines that
they may be issued pursuant to an exemption from, or in a
transaction that is not subject to, the registration requirements
of the U.S. Securities Act as provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the
U.S. Securities Act or another available exemption. Where Bidco
believes that an election for an Alternative Offer by any LTG
Shareholder may infringe applicable legal or regulatory
requirements, or may result in a requirement for registration under
the U.S. Securities Act, the U.S. Exchange Act or any other
securities laws in the United States, Bidco will have the right to
deem that such LTG Shareholder has not validly elected for an
Alternative Offer and such LTG Shareholder will instead receive
cash consideration in respect of the LTG Shares which were subject
to such an election, in accordance with the terms of the Cash
Offer.
In addition, if valid elections for the
Alternative Offers are made that would (when taken together) result
in there being 2,000 or more holders of Rollover Securities, 300 or
more of whom are U.S. Holders, (the "U.S. Holders Cap"), Bidco may, at its
discretion determine that neither Alternative Offer will be made
available and that all LTG Shareholders will instead receive cash
consideration in respect of the relevant LTG Shareholder's holding
which was subject to such an election, in accordance with the terms
of the Cash Offer.
Following the Scheme becoming Effective and
except with the approval of the Topco Board, the Rollover
Securities may not be offered, sold, resold, taken up, transferred
or delivered, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States
or to or for the account or benefit of any person believed to be a
U.S. Person, or in any other manner whatsoever, as a result of
which registration under the U.S. Securities or U.S. Exchange Act
would be required, and no transfer of any Rollover Securities will
be permitted that would result in the U.S. Holders Cap being
exceeded.
LTG Shareholders should determine whether
acquiring or holding Rollover Securities (as applicable) is
affected by the laws or regulations of the relevant jurisdiction in
which they reside and consider whether any or all of the Rollover
Securities are a suitable investment in light of their own personal
circumstances and investment objectives. LTG Shareholders are
therefore strongly recommended to seek their own independent
financial, tax and legal advice before deciding whether to elect
for an Alternative Offer. Any decision to elect for an Alternative
Offer should be based on independent financial, tax and legal
advice and, to the extent available in such LTG Shareholder's
jurisdiction, full consideration of the information in this
Announcement (including as set out in Appendix IV), the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles (each available on
Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/)
and in the Scheme Document).
Irrevocable undertakings in respect of
the Alternative Offers
As described in paragraph 6, Bidco has received
the following irrevocable undertakings to (among other things)
elect for the Alternative Offers:
·
Andrew Brode, Chairman of LTG and a Non-Independent LTG
Director, has entered into an irrevocable undertaking to elect to
receive Alternative Offer 1 in respect of his entire beneficial
holding of LTG Shares, being a total of 117,098,930 LTG Shares
(representing approximately 14.78 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement); and
·
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive Officer of LTG and a
Non-Independent LTG Director, has entered into an irrevocable
undertaking to elect to receive an Alternative Offer in respect of
70,163,160 LTG Shares (representing approximately 8.86 per cent. of
the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
Bidco has therefore received irrevocable
undertakings to elect for the Alternative Offers in respect of
187,262,090 LTG Shares (representing approximately 23.63 per cent.
of the existing issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December
2024, being the last Business Day before the date of this
Announcement).
The Independent LTG Directors have not entered
into any irrevocable undertakings to elect for an Alternative
Offer.
As noted in
paragraph 4, the
Independent LTG Directors
are unable to form any opinion on, or make any recommendation in
respect of, either Alternative Offer.
Further information in relation to the
Alternative Offers and the Rollover Securities (including
advantages and disadvantages, risk factors and other investment
considerations, the key rights and restrictions attaching to the
Rollover Securities, as well as the further terms and conditions of
the Alternative Offers) and the Topco Group, is set out in
paragraph 4, the remainder of this paragraph 13 and Appendix IV
(and will be included in the Scheme Document). The Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are also available
on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
Risk factors and other investment
considerations relating to the Alternative Offers
The attention of eligible LTG Shareholders who
may be considering electing for an Alternative Offer is drawn to
certain risk factors and other investment considerations relating
to such election. These will be set out in full in the Scheme
Document but include (among others):
·
the Rollover Securities comprise securities in a Jersey
incorporated private limited company, are unquoted and will not be
listed or admitted to trading on any stock exchange or market for
trading of securities (and will not be registered under the U.S.
Securities Act) and will, therefore, be illiquid. As a result, any
assessment of the value of the Rollover Securities should take into
account an individual shareholder's assessment of an appropriate
liquidity discount;
·
the Rollover Securities will be of uncertain value and there
can be no assurance that they will be capable of being sold in the
future or that they will be capable of being sold at the value to
be estimated by PJT Partners, as financial adviser to Bidco, in the
Scheme Document;
·
the Topco Board will be the principal decision-making board
of the Topco Group and the members of such board are expected to
comprise six directors at completion of the Acquisition (but can
extend to up to seven (or more) directors being appointed to the
board). The Topco Board is initially expected to be structured as
follows: (i) one director appointed by General Atlantic (for so
long as it holds any A Preference Shares); (ii) one director
appointed by General Atlantic (for so long as it holds at least 10
per cent. but less than 25 per cent. of the Ordinary Shares (on a
fully diluted basis, including the Warrants as if they had all been
exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with
their terms at the relevant time); (iii) the person holding the
position of Chief Executive Officer of the Topco Group from time to
time (initially expected to by Jonathan Satchell upon completion of
the Acquisition); and (iv) two directors appointed by holders of at
least 25 per cent. but less than 35 per cent. of the Ordinary
Shares and three directors appointed by holders of at least 35 per
cent. of the Ordinary Shares. Given his expected holding of
Ordinary Shares, it is anticipated that Andrew Brode will initially
have the right to appoint three directors (including himself).
Holders of B Preference Shares have no right to appoint directors
to the Topco Board. As such, holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares
holding less than 25 per cent. of the voting rights of Topco (on a
fully diluted basis) and B Preference Shares will have no
meaningful influence over decisions made by the Topco Group in
relation to its investment in LTG or in any other business or in
relation to any member of the Topco Group's (or the Group's)
strategy (other than, in the case of holders of Rollover Ordinary
Shares, their right to vote at general meetings of
Topco);
·
while the Rollover Ordinary Shares carry voting rights at
general meetings of Topco and the right to vote on written
resolutions of shareholders of Topco: (i) General Atlantic holds
consent rights in relation to certain reserved matters which cannot
be approved without General Atlantic's consent; and (ii) Topco
shareholders who hold 10 per cent. or more of the Ordinary Shares
will hold a limited number of consent rights in relation to matters
which cannot be approved without the consent of such Topco
shareholders. While it is not possible to determine, at the date of
this Announcement, the exact shareholdings of General Atlantic,
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell, it is expected that following
the Effective Date, if and to the extent they were to exercise
their voting rights in the same manner, the aggregate of their
voting rights would be able to pass both ordinary and special
resolutions of Topco without other holders of Rollover Ordinary
Shares being able to block them. Although each of General Atlantic,
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell take decisions independently of
each other, other holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares may have
reduced influence or control with respect to decisions made by
Topco in relation to its indirect investment in the Group and/or
any other business;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the holders B Preference
Shares do not carry any general voting rights at general meetings
of Topco (save in respect of rights to vote as a class of
shareholder as required in accordance with applicable law) and will
therefore have no ability to vote on matters or otherwise confer
influence over decisions made by Topco in relation to its indirect
investment in the Group and/or any other business;
·
the holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares who hold less than 10
per cent. of the voting rights in Topco (on a fully diluted basis,
including the Warrants as if they had all been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time) do not enjoy any minority protections or other
rights (including consent rights or information rights), except for
those rights prescribed by applicable law. In relation to
Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares do not benefit from
any governance rights or any minority protections or other rights
(including consent rights or information rights) except for those
prescribed by applicable law;
·
following completion of the Acquisition and on the basis of
their election for an Alternative Offer, it is anticipated that
Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell will have a significant rollover
equity investment in the Bidco Group. This total rollover equity
investment will comprise Rollover Ordinary Shares and may also
include B Preference Shares, although the exact size and nature of
this investment will depend on the level of election by LTG
Shareholders for the Alternative Offers, the specific Alternative
Offer elected for by both Jonathan Satchell and other LTG
Shareholders and the resulting proportion of Rollover Ordinary
Shares and B Preference Shares issued as Rollover Securities. It is
anticipated that Andrew Brode's and Jonathan Satchell's combined
rollover equity investment will represent a minority but
significant proportion of the total equity commitment in the Bidco
Group across a combination of all Ordinary Shares and Preference
Shares. General Atlantic is anticipated to represent a majority of
the combined Ordinary Shares and Preference Shares. When considered
separately, it is anticipated that Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell will between them represent a majority of all Ordinary
Shares and General Atlantic will represent a majority of all
Preference Shares;
·
the Rollover Securities held by Rollover Investors will be
subject to the Lock-Up Period and will not be transferrable during
that time, save in very limited circumstances as further described
in Appendix IV. Following such Lock-Up Period, a Rollover Investor
will be entitled to transfer its Rollover Securities to a bona fide
third party, subject to a right of first offer in favour of those
Topco shareholders who hold 10 per cent. or more of the relevant
securities in Topco in circumstances where the proposed transfer
would not result in the proposed transferee acquiring control of
the Topco Group, certain customary "drag-along" and "tag-along"
provisions set out in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and certain
other restrictions in respect of the identity of the proposed
transferee;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, subject to applicable
law, the Topco Board has the right to redeem the Preference Shares
at any time in accordance with the Topco Articles, in which case
the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price will apply. In
addition, the Preference Shares (including the B Preference Shares)
are expected to be redeemed on a direct or indirect change of
control of LTG. As a result, holders of B Preference Shares could
lose their continued indirect economic exposure to LTG (via the B
Preference Shares) and can therefore have no assurance as to how
long they will be in issue (including as to how long the dividend
payable on such B Preference Shares will be paid);
·
the holders of Rollover Ordinary Shares will be diluted upon
exercise and conversion by General Atlantic of the Warrants into
Ordinary Shares. In connection with its funding of the Acquisition,
General Atlantic is entitled to be issued with such number of
Warrants as is equal to a maximum amount of 12.5 per cent. of
Topco's Ordinary Share capital on a fully diluted basis (calculated
on the basis of including the impact of the Warrants as if they had
all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance
with their terms at the relevant time). The number of Warrants to
be issued to General Atlantic will be reduced from such maximum
amount if and to the extent that B Preference Shares are issued in
connection with valid elections from LTG Shareholders for
Alternative Offer 2 (thereby reducing the number of A1 Preference
Shares to be issued to General Atlantic), in such number as is
commensurate with the number of B Preference Shares issued to LTG
Shareholders pursuant to Alternative Offer 2. In addition, General
Atlantic will be entitled to a rateable increase in its number of
Warrants (potentially in excess of 12.5 per cent. of Topco's fully
diluted Ordinary Share capital) if it subscribes for additional A
Preference Shares in connection with any Pre Approved
Funding;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
(and the basing amounts payable in connection with the Preferred
Dividend and the Preference Share Redemption Price) will be
denominated in U.S. dollars. Accordingly, payment of the Preferred
Dividend and the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price will
be made in U.S. dollars and LTG Shareholders will be exposed to
foreign exchange fluctuations in the value of U.S.
dollars;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
will be issued at a U.S. dollar price per B Preference Share that
is equivalent to the price of 100 pence per LTG Share in respect of
the Cash Offer. The applicable GBP:USD exchange rate will be same
rate as for determining the U.S. dollar issue price for the A
Preference Shares in accordance with the Hedging Instrument, as
described in paragraph 4 of Appendix IV.
This rate will not be known until on or following the Effective
Date. As a result, there may be foreign exchange fluctuations
between the date of this Announcement and the time that such
exchange rate is determined which may reduce (or increase) the
overall value (in pound terms at that point in time) of the
consideration received by an LTG Shareholder who has validly
elected for Alternative Offer 2. In addition, LTG Shareholders will
have no control over the applicable exchange rate that is
ultimately applied;
·
holders of Rollover Securities may also be diluted (directly
or indirectly) over time, potentially significantly, should there
be further issues of securities by Topco and holders of Rollover
Securities are unable to or choose not to participate in such
further issues of securities (including as a result of Pre Approved
Funding, in respect of which holders of Rollover Securities will
not be entitled to participate). If holders of Rollover Securities
wish to avoid their percentage interest in Topco being diluted,
they may (if and to the extent they are permitted to do so) need to
further invest cash sums in Topco (and provide related
documentation). In particular, holders of Rollover Securities who
do not exercise (or, in certain circumstances, are not permitted to
exercise) any pre-emption rights or catch-up rights by investing
the necessary cash sums in respect of further issuances of
securities by Topco may suffer significant dilution in their
percentage ownership. The price of and valuation methodology in
relation to such further issuances is not known and may be
different to the value to be estimated by PJT Partners, as lead
financial adviser to Bidco, in the Scheme Document;
·
the right of holders of Rollover Securities to participate in
further issues of Rollover Securities by Topco is subject to
certain important restrictions. These include exclusions in the
case of further issues of securities:
·
in connection with General Atlantic (and/or its
associates) subscribing for Ordinary Shares in the
capital of Topco in order to fund (indirectly) the consideration
payable by Bidco under the Cash Offer to LTG Shareholders, pursuant
to the terms of the Acquisition (for the avoidance of doubt, this
is not expected to have a dilutive impact on holders of Topco
securities);
·
to General Atlantic and/or its associates in connection with
any Pre Approved Funding required to ensure the Topco Group has at
least US$38 million of available cash as at the Effective
Date;
·
to the Rollover Investors pursuant to the Scheme (or, if
applicable, the Offer);
·
upon the exercise of any Warrant pursuant to the terms of the
Warrant Instrument;
·
to actual or potential employees, directors or consultants of
the Topco Group (whether directly or indirectly, including through
a trust, nominee or other investment vehicle established for the
purposes of holding Rollover Securities on behalf of such persons)
in connection with any management incentive plan related to the
Topco Group;
·
to any vendor(s) as non-cash consideration on the acquisition
of, or merger with, all or part of another business, undertaking,
company or assets;
·
other than to General Atlantic or any of its associates, in
connection with the debt financing arrangements of the Topco Group,
which will dilute securities held by the Topco shareholders
pro-rata;
·
in connection with an IPO or a pre-IPO reorganisation
transaction; or
·
in respect of which General Atlantic and the holders of a
Topco Special Majority agree in writing that the pre-emption rights
in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement will not apply (it being noted
that, together, General Atlantic, Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell would be able to form a Topco Special
Majority);
·
the A2 Preference Shares rank senior to the A1 Preference
Shares and the B Preference Shares as regards any distribution,
buy-back, any other capital redemption or other return of income or
capital made by Topco and, while the A2 Preference Shares do not
benefit from the Preference Dividend or any other dividend, the A2
Preference Shares will be redeemed at the applicable Issue Price
before the A1 Preference Shares and B Preference Shares are
redeemed;
·
in relation to Alternative Offer 2, the B Preference Shares
(and A Preference Shares) rank senior to the Rollover Ordinary
Shares in all respects, meaning that the Preference Dividend to be
paid on the B Preference Shares (and A1 Preference Shares) will,
subject always to the Topco Articles, be paid by Topco to the
holders thereof before any other dividend, distribution or other
return of capital (such as a share buyback) can be paid by Topco in
respect of the Rollover Ordinary Shares (with the possibility that
no further capital is available for distribution to holders of
Rollover Ordinary Shares). In addition, upon an Exit, the proceeds
available for distribution (excluding certain costs and taxes) must
be paid in priority to the holders of A2 Preference Shares,
followed by the holders of A1 Preference Shares and B Preference
Shares in respect of accrued and unpaid amounts on any dividends
relating to the A1 Preference Shares and B Preference Shares (as
well as further amounts payable on redemption of such A1 Preference
Shares and B Preference Shares) before any remaining proceeds can
be distributed pari passu
amongst holders of Ordinary Shares (including the Rollover Ordinary
Shares) (with the possibility that no further proceeds are
available for distribution to holders of Rollover Ordinary
Shares);
·
for so long as Topco and its subsidiaries have any secured
debt outstanding and until the Preference Shares are redeemed in
full, it is not anticipated that Topco will declare or pay any
dividends on the Rollover Ordinary Shares;
·
any Exit or Refinancing will occur at the discretion of the
Topco Board (with the consent of General Atlantic) or, in the case
of an Exit only, at the discretion of General Atlantic in certain
circumstances as detailed in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement, and
holders of Rollover Securities will therefore not have control over
the date(s), terms or value(s) on or at which they may be able to
realise their investment in the Topco Group (if at all). In
particular, following expiry of the Lock-Up Period, in certain
circumstances where a Topco shareholder proposes to transfer its
securities in Topco, holders of Rollover Securities may be forced
to sell all their Rollover Securities on terms economically no less
favourable as compared to the relevant selling Topco shareholder
under the terms of a "drag along" (i.e. forced sale) provision set
out in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement. In relation to the "drag
along" provision set out in the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement:
·
save that the consideration for the transfer of B Preference
Shares on a "drag-along" sale must be equal to the relevant
Preference Share Redemption Price calculated as at the date of
completion of the transfer, there is no requirement for the selling
Topco shareholder or any of its associates to proceed with an Exit
or to do so at any particular minimum price or, if they do proceed
with an Exit, to exercise the "drag along" right, and certain
exceptions to the "drag along" right apply;
·
in the event of only a partial exit, the "drag along" right
is unlikely to apply;
·
the "drag along" right may only be exercised following expiry
of the Lock-Up Period; and
·
any transfer triggering the "drag along" right may be at a
value that is less than the value of the cash consideration payable
per LTG Share in connection with the Cash Offer;
·
in relation to the "tag along right" (i.e. right to join a
sale) in connection with the Rollover Securities:
·
on a transfer of Topco securities which would result in the
purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group, holders of Rollover
Securities are entitled to sell to the purchaser all of their
Rollover Securities. However, holders of Rollover Securities will
only have a pro-rata tag right in respect of a proportion (and not
all) of their Rollover Securities on a transfer of Ordinary Shares
that would not result in the purchaser acquiring control of the
Topco Group. Therefore, this "tag along" right may not provide for
a full (or any) exit for holders of Rollover Securities;
·
certain exceptions apply which would not give rise to a "tag
along" right, including (amongst others): (i) in relation to
transfers in connection with a Refinancing or a reorganisation
transaction; or (ii) in connection with a transfer of equity
interests by General Atlantic to its associates;
·
in the case of a transfer which does not result in the
purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group and where the only
type of security being transferred is Preference Shares, the
holders of Rollover Securities will not benefit from a "tag along"
right in respect of their Preference Shares (or Ordinary
Shares);
·
there is no requirement for any Topco shareholder to transfer
securities on any known timeline; and
·
holders of Rollover Securities who exercise the "tag along"
right described above will be required to agree to the same terms
and conditions as the selling Topco shareholder and its associates
in relation to the relevant transfer, including as to price and any
covenants as a selling shareholder. The consideration payable to
holders of Rollover Securities in such circumstances may or may not
be cash and is not subject to any minimum threshold (save that the
consideration for the B Preference Shares on a transfer that would
result in the purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group must
be equal to the applicable Preference Share Redemption
Price);
·
in the event of any Exit, holders of Rollover Securities will
be required to co-operate with the Topco Group, and each
Substantial Rollover Investor and Qualifying Rollover Investor and
any other Rollover Investor who is a member of the Topco Group's
senior management team may be required to provide certain
warranties and indemnities in connection with such process, save
that it is anticipated that any business warranties and indemnities
would be given on a "fully insured" basis (provided that warranty
and indemnity insurance is available on commercially reasonable
terms (including as to pricing) in accordance with market practice
at the relevant time and in a form reasonably satisfactory to the
purchaser(s));
·
each Rollover Investor will have sole responsibility for
declaring and settling their respective tax liabilities (in each
case including all interest and penalties in relation thereto) in
each relevant jurisdiction as a result of, in respect of, by
reference to or in connection with the issue of any Rollover
Securities, Bidco Rollover Securities, Midco 3 Rollover Securities,
Midco 2 Rollover Securities and Midco 1 Rollover Securities or
otherwise the election to receive an Alternative Offer, including,
without limitation, arising from the grant, subscription, issuance,
acquisition, vesting, exercise, ownership, holding, transfer,
conversion or disposal of such securities, the variation of any
right attaching to or comprising in any such securities, being
given the right or opportunity to acquire any such securities, any
other action, event, transfer, transaction or thing done (whether
actual or deemed) at any time in relation to any such securities
(including the waiver of any loan relating to those securities), or
the entry into of any tax election related to such securities.
Under the Topco Shareholders' Agreement, the Rollover Investors
agree that the Topco Group may, where applicable, make deductions
from salary, bonuses or other employment income of the relevant
Rollover Investor for the relevant period or any subsequent period,
in order to account for any such tax liability borne by the Topco
Group on behalf of the relevant Rollover Investor; to the extent
that any such deductions are insufficient to cover any such taxes
due within 60 calendar days of such tax arising (or such shorter
time as may be required by law or regulation or as deemed necessary
or desirable by the Topco Group in order to minimise such tax),
each Rollover Investor severally covenants to pay (to the extent
permitted by law) to the relevant Topco Group company (on an
after-tax basis) an amount equal to the balance of any such taxes
which are due, within 10 calendar days of demand by the Topco
Group;
·
General Atlantic intends that all costs, fees and expenses in
connection with any Exit, reorganisation transaction or Refinancing
as determined by the Topco Board (acting reasonably) will be borne
by the Topco Group. Such costs would therefore result, directly or
indirectly, in a pro-rata reduction in the value of the investment
made by holders of Rollover Securities in the Topco Group. The
quantum of such costs, fees and expenses is not known;
·
in certain circumstances including a continuing default under
the Topco Group's debt financing facilities, an insolvency event
for the Topco Group, certain insolvency or material accounting or
liquidity issues for the Topco Group, the exceeding of certain
leverage thresholds by the Topco Group, significant
underperformance by the Topco Group against its initial business
plan and a failure by Topco to fully redeem all Topco Preference
Shares (at the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price) and to
purchase all of General Atlantic's Ordinary Shares (at fair market
value) within 12 months of General Atlantic serving notice on Topco
requiring the same at any time after the sixth anniversary of the
Effective Date (each a "Minority
Protection Situation"), General Atlantic has certain
enhanced governance rights pursuant to which it may acquire control
of the Topco Board and, subject to certain protected Topco
shareholder rights, take all such steps and actions and do all such
things that, in the opinion of General Atlantic (acting reasonably
and in good faith), are necessary or desirable in order to mitigate
or respond to such Minority Protection Situation. In a Minority
Protection Situation, other than certain reserved matters requiring
the consent of Rollover Investors who hold 10 per cent. or more of
the voting rights in Topco (on a fully diluted basis, including the
Warrants as if they had been exercised and converted into Ordinary
Shares in accordance with their terms at the relevant time), the
Rollover Investors will have no meaningful influence over decisions
made by the Topco Group in relation to their respective investments
in LTG or in relation to any member of the Topco Group's (or the
Group's) strategy;
·
future payments or other realisations of value, proceeds or
capital in respect of the Rollover Securities (including in
connection with an Exit or otherwise) will not be guaranteed or
secured;
·
General Atlantic, together with the holders of a Rollover
Investor Majority may, acting reasonably, amend the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and/or the Topco Articles and/or related
documents (notwithstanding any class rights) without the consent
of, and upon reasonable notice setting out the amendments to, the
other Topco shareholders, save that no such amendment will be made
which would be disproportionately adverse to the economic
(including capital and income rights), tax or legal position of the
Rollover Investors as compared to General Atlantic;
·
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement includes a number of
continuing obligations on holders of Rollover Securities,
including: (i) restrictions on saying or doing anything which may
be harmful or prejudicial to the goodwill or reputation of General
Atlantic or its associates or the Topco Group; and (ii) a
compliance covenant, which requires the Rollover Investors to
observe and fully comply with the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and
includes an undertaking to exercise their rights to give full
effect thereto (which means that circumstances may arise whereby
the Rollover Investors are obliged to vote in a particular way to
comply with this covenant, or their right to object to a variation
of class rights may be otherwise restricted). The Topco
Shareholders' Agreement also contains a power of attorney whereby
the Rollover Investors appoint Topco or General Atlantic as their
attorney to provide the consents and approvals referred to above. A
combination of such compliance covenants, the power of attorney and
the variation provisions described above and certain other
requirements in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and Topco
Articles therefore narrow the scope of class rights protections
which would otherwise be available to holders of Rollover
Securities under Jersey law;
·
the power of attorney contained in the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement will also allow Topco and General Atlantic to (acting
individually or together) exercise voting rights at shareholder
meetings and sign relevant documentation on behalf of Rollover
Investors, in each case as Topco or General Atlantic may, in their
absolute discretion (in good faith) consider necessary or desirable
to facilitate the enforcement of certain key terms of the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement. This will narrow the ability of holders of
Rollover Securities to exercise control and/or take their own
decisions in relation to such matters as compared to what would
otherwise be the case in respect of their Rollover
Securities;
·
it should be noted that the costs, fees and expenses incurred
by LTG, as well as Bidco, the Topco Group and General Atlantic, in
connection with the Acquisition will be borne by the enlarged Topco
Group. Such costs, fees and expenses will need to be funded from
existing cash resources of the enlarged Topco Group or by
additional subscription of Ordinary Shares and/or Preference Shares
by General Atlantic (with any such subscription occurring at the
same per-share price as the other Acquisition related subscriptions
by General Atlantic). The costs, fees and expenses of LTG are
currently estimated (on an indicative basis to amount to
approximately £12 million and are expected to be funded from
existing cash resources. The costs, fees and expenses of General
Atlantic are currently estimated (on an indicative basis) to amount
to approximately £26 million. Assuming that the entirety of that
amount were to be funded by General Atlantic subscribing for
Ordinary Shares and total Topco Ordinary Share capital equivalent
to £181 million of equity value (excluding such subscription),
General Atlantic would be subscribing for 12.5 per cent. of
additional Ordinary Shares, with commensurate dilution of all
Ordinary Shareholders' percentage Ordinary Share interests
(including General Atlantic's). An updated estimate of all costs,
fees and expenses will be included in the Scheme
Document;
·
eligible LTG Shareholders will only be able to elect for one
Alternative Offer (but not both);
·
LTG Shareholders will have no certainty as to whether they
will receive Rollover Securities, or the amount of Rollover
Securities they will receive, because:
·
the maximum number of Rollover Securities available to
eligible LTG Shareholders under the Alternative Offers is limited
to the Alternative Offer Cap as described above;
·
if and to the extent that elections for the Alternative
Offers (when taken together) cannot be satisfied in full, the
number of Rollover Securities to be issued in respect of each LTG
Share will be scaled down on a pro-rata basis, in the manner
described above, and the balance of the consideration for each LTG
Share will be paid in cash in accordance with the terms of the Cash
Offer;
·
if elections for the Alternative Offers are made that would
result in the U.S. Holders Cap being exceeded, Bidco may, at its
discretion, determine that neither Alternative Offer will be made
available and that all LTG Shareholders will instead receive cash
consideration in respect of the LTG Shares which were subject to
such an election, in accordance with the terms of the Cash Offer;
and
·
the precise numbers of securities that may be issued by Topco
from time to time cannot be ascertained at the date of this
Announcement and will depend on a variety of factors;
·
as certain rights and protections attaching to the Rollover
Securities will depend upon the number of Rollover Securities held
by each holder of Rollover Securities, there can therefore be no
certainty that eligible LTG Shareholders will obtain the requisite
number of Rollover Securities to afford themselves those rights and
protections;
·
LTG is currently admitted to trading on AIM. Certain
standards and protections (including requirements as to the
disclosure of information) afforded to shareholders in a listed
public limited company incorporated in England and Wales will be
substantially different to a shareholding in an unlisted private
limited company incorporated in Jersey which a LTG Shareholder
would receive as a result of validly electing for an Alternative
Offer (and these will not be commensurate to those that they
currently benefit from as an LTG Shareholder);
·
the value of the Rollover Securities will depend upon the
future performance of the LTG business following the Acquisition
becoming Effective. This remains uncertain and could result in the
amount received on Exit or other transfer being more or less than
the consideration under the Cash Offer. There can be no guarantee
as to the performance of Topco (or the Topco Group) following the
Effective Date, and past performance cannot be relied upon as an
indication of future performance or growth; and
·
following the Effective Date, LTG will remain subject to the
risks associated with the industry in which it operates.
Accordingly, holders of Rollover Securities will continue to be
exposed to such risks.
As noted in
paragraph 4, the Independent LTG Directors are
unable to form any opinion on, or make any recommendation in
respect of, either Alternative Offer.
Further information in relation to the
Alternative Offers and the Rollover Securities (including certain
advantages and disadvantages, risk factors and other investment
considerations, the key rights and restrictions attaching to the
Rollover Securities, as well as the further terms and conditions of
the Alternative Offers) and the Topco Group, is set out in
paragraph 4, this paragraph 13 above and
Appendix IV (and will be included in the Scheme Document). The
Topco Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are also
available on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
14.
Disclosure of interests in LTG securities
Except for the irrevocable undertakings referred
to in paragraph 6 and Appendix III, as at 3 December 2024 being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement, neither
Bidco, nor any of its directors, nor, so far as Bidco is aware, any
person presumed to be acting in concert (within the meaning of the
Code) with Bidco for the purposes of the Acquisition: (i) had any
interest in, or right to subscribe for, relevant securities of LTG;
or (ii) had any short positions in respect of relevant securities
of LTG (whether conditional or absolute and whether in the money or
otherwise), including any short position under a derivative, any
agreement to sell or any delivery obligation or right to require
another person to purchase or take delivery; or (iii) has borrowed
or lent any relevant securities of LTG (including, for these
purposes, any financial collateral arrangements of the kind
referred to in Note 3 on Rule 4.6 of the Code) save for any
borrowed shares which have been either on-lent or resold; (iv)
procured an irrevocable commitment or letter of intent to accept
the terms of the Acquisition in respect of relevant securities of
LTG; or (v) is a party to any dealing arrangement of the kind
referred to in Note 11(a) on the definition of acting in concert in
the Code.
"Interests in
securities" for these purposes arise, in summary, when a
person has long economic exposure, whether absolute or conditional,
to changes in the price of securities (and a person who only has a
short position in securities is not treated as interested in those
securities). In particular, a person will be treated as having an
"interest" by virtue of the ownership, voting rights or control of
securities, or by virtue of any agreement to purchase, option in
respect of, or derivative referenced to securities.
15. LTG
dividends
The Cash Offer (and, as the case may be, the
consideration due under the Alternative Offers) assumes that LTG
Shareholders will not receive any dividend, distribution and/or any
other return of capital or value following the date of this
Announcement.
If, on or after the date of this Announcement
and before the Effective Date, any dividend, distribution and/or
other return of capital or value is authorised, declared, made,
paid or becomes payable in respect of the LTG Shares, Bidco
reserves the right to reduce the consideration payable under the
terms of the Cash Offer (and, as the case may be, the number of
Rollover Securities due under the terms of the Alternative Offers,
assuming that the value of the Rollover Securities to be issued
under the Alternative Offers for each LTG Share is equal to the
consideration payable under the Cash Offer) by an amount up to the
amount of such dividend, distribution and/or other return of
capital or value. In these circumstances, the relevant eligible LTG
Shareholders will be entitled to receive and retain such dividend,
distribution and/or return of capital or value that is authorised,
declared, made, paid or becomes payable, and any reference in this
Announcement to the consideration payable under the Cash Offer (or
consideration due under the Alternative Offers) will be deemed to
be a reference to the consideration as so reduced. Any exercise by
Bidco of its rights referred to in this paragraph will be the
subject of an announcement and, for the avoidance of doubt, will
not be regarded as constituting any revision or variation of the
terms of the Scheme.
16. LTG
Share Plans
Participants in the LTG Share Plans will be
contacted regarding the effect of the Acquisition on their rights
under the LTG Share Plans and an appropriate proposal will be made
to such participants in due course. The proposals will explain the
impact of the Acquisition on the options and/or awards of
participants in the LTG Share Plans and the actions such
participants may take in respect of their options or awards. A
summary of such proposals will be set out in the Scheme
Document.
17.
Scheme of Arrangement and Conditions to the Acquisition
Scheme of arrangement
It is intended that the Acquisition will be
implemented by way of a Court-approved scheme of arrangement
between LTG and the LTG Shareholders under Part 26 of the Companies
Act (although Bidco reserves the right to implement the Acquisition
by way of an Offer, subject to the consent of the Panel, where
necessary, and the terms of the Co-operation Agreement).
The purpose of the Scheme is to provide for
Bidco to become the holder of the entire issued, and to be issued,
ordinary share capital of LTG. This is to be achieved:
·
in respect of the Cash Offer, by the transfer of the LTG
Shares held by LTG Shareholders to Bidco, in consideration for
which the relevant LTG Shareholders will receive consideration on
the basis set out in paragraph 2;
and
·
in respect of LTG Shares in respect of which valid elections
for an Alternative Offer are made (subject to the terms and
conditions of each Alternative Offer, including the Alternative
Offer Cap, Scaling Back and the U.S. Holders Cap), through the
receipt of Rollover Securities pursuant to the Rollover Mechanism
described in paragraph 3 of Appendix IV
in exchange for the transfer to Bidco of the relevant number of LTG
Shares of the relevant eligible LTG Shareholder,
in each case, to be effected pursuant to the
Scheme.
Conditions to the
Acquisition
The Acquisition will be subject to the
Conditions and further terms referred to in Appendix I and to the
full terms and conditions to be set out in the Scheme Document (or,
if the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, the Offer
Document) and will only become Effective if, among other things,
the following events occur on or before 11.59 p.m. (London time) on
the Long-Stop Date:
·
a resolution to approve the Scheme is passed by a majority in
number of LTG Shareholders present and voting (and entitled to
vote) at the Court Meeting, either in person or by proxy,
representing 75 per cent. or more in value of the LTG Shares held
and voted by those LTG Shareholders;
·
the Resolution necessary to implement the Scheme is passed by
the requisite majority of LTG Shareholders representing at least 75
per cent. of votes cast at the General Meeting;
·
following the Meetings and satisfaction and/or waiver (where
applicable) of the other Conditions, the Scheme is sanctioned by
the Court (without modification, or with modification on terms
agreed by Bidco and LTG);
·
following such sanction, a copy of the Court Order is
delivered to the Registrar of Companies; and
·
the satisfaction or waiver of the relevant antitrust and
foreign direct investment approvals, including in the United
Kingdom, Germany and the United States.
Conditions 1, 2(a)(ii), 2(b)(ii), and 2(c)(ii)
set out in Part A of Appendix I provide that the Scheme will lapse
(under the authority of Rule 13.5(b) of the Code) if:
·
the Court Meeting and the General Meeting are not held by the
22nd day after the expected date of the Court Meeting and the
General Meeting, such date to be set out in the Scheme Document in
due course (or such later date as Bidco and LTG may agree, or as
may be specified by Bidco with the consent of the Panel and, in
each case, if required, the Court may allow), unless such Condition
is waived by Bidco;
·
the Sanction Hearing is not held by the 22nd day after the
expected date of the Sanction Hearing to be set out in the Scheme
Document in due course (or such later date as Bidco and LTG may
agree, or as may be specified by Bidco with the consent of the
Panel and, in each case, if required, the Court may allow), unless
such Condition is waived by Bidco; or
·
the Scheme does not become Effective on or by 11.59 p.m.
(London time) on the Long-Stop Date (unless this date is extended
by agreement between Bidco and LTG).
Bidco may only invoke a Condition so as to cause
the Acquisition not to proceed, lapse or to be withdrawn with the
consent of the Panel. Certain Conditions are not subject to this
requirement. Further details are set out below and in Part B of
Appendix I.
If any of Conditions 1, 2(a)(ii), 2(b)(ii), and
2(c)(ii) set out in Part A of Appendix I are not satisfied by the
date specified therein, Bidco will make an announcement via a
Regulatory Information Service as soon as practicable and, in any
event, by no later than 8.00 a.m. (London time) on the Business Day
following the date so specified, confirming whether Bidco has
invoked the relevant Condition, waived the relevant Condition
(where applicable), or agreed with LTG to extend the relevant
deadline by which that Condition must be satisfied.
Once the necessary approvals from LTG
Shareholders have been obtained and the other Conditions have been
satisfied or (where applicable) waived and the Scheme has been
approved by the Court, the Scheme will become Effective upon
delivery of a copy of the Court Order to the Registrar of
Companies.
The Scheme is expected to become Effective
during the first quarter of 2025, subject to the satisfaction or
waiver (where applicable) of the Conditions.
Upon the Scheme becoming Effective: (i) it will
be binding on all LTG Shareholders, irrespective of whether or not
they attended or voted at the Court Meeting or General Meeting (and
if they attended and voted, whether or not they voted in favour);
and (ii) share certificates in respect of LTG Shares will cease to
be valid and entitlements to LTG Shares held within the CREST
system will be cancelled. In accordance with the applicable
provisions of the Code, the consideration for the transfer of the
LTG Shares to Bidco (pursuant to the Cash Offer or either of the
Alternative Offers, as applicable) will be dispatched within 14
days of the Effective Date.
Any LTG Shares issued before the Scheme Record
Time will be subject to the terms of the Scheme. The Resolution to
be proposed at the General Meeting will, among other matters,
provide that the Articles be amended to incorporate provisions
requiring any LTG Shares issued after the Scheme Record Time (other
than to Bidco and/or its nominees) to be automatically transferred
to Bidco on the same terms as the Cash Offer (other than terms as
to timings and formalities). The provisions of the Articles (as
amended) will avoid any person (other than Bidco and/or its
nominees) holding shares in the capital of LTG after the Effective
Date.
Full details of the Scheme, including expected
times and dates for each of the Court Meeting, the General Meeting
and the Sanction Hearing, together with notices of the Court
Meeting and the General Meeting, will be set out in the Scheme
Document, which will be published, together with the associated
Forms of Proxy and Form(s) of Election, as soon as reasonably
practicable and, in any event, within 28 days of this Announcement
(or such later time as LTG, Bidco and the Panel may agree). A copy
of the KYC Form(s) for completion of the requisite "know your
customer" checks in connection with the Alternative Offers and the
Rollover Securities
is expected to be made available at the time of
publication of the Scheme Document. The Scheme will be governed by
the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the
jurisdiction of the Court.
18.
Cancellation of admission and re-registration
Prior to the Scheme becoming Effective, it is
intended that LTG will make an application to the London Stock
Exchange for the cancellation of the admission to trading of LTG
Shares on AIM with effect on or shortly after the Effective
Date.
It is expected that the last day of dealings in
LTG Shares on AIM will be the Business Day immediately prior to the
Effective Date and no transfers will be registered after 6.00 p.m.
(London time) on that date.
On the Effective Date, share certificates in
respect of LTG Shares will cease to be valid and entitlements to
LTG Shares held within the CREST system will be
cancelled.
It is also intended that LTG will be
re-registered as a private limited company as soon as practicable
on or following the Effective Date.
19.
Documents
Copies of the following documents will be
available, subject to certain restrictions relating to persons
resident in Restricted Jurisdictions, Bidco's and LTG's websites at
https://announcements-ga.com/
and https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/,
respectively, by no later than 12.00 p.m. (London time) on the
Business Day following this Announcement until the end of the Offer
Period:
·
this Announcement;
·
the Confidentiality Agreement;
·
the Co-operation Agreement;
·
the irrevocable undertakings referred to in paragraph 6 and
summarised in Appendix III;
·
the documents entered into for the financing of the
Acquisition referred to in paragraph
10;
·
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement;
·
the Topco Articles;
·
the summary of the rollover equity terms; and
·
the consent letters from each of Goldman Sachs, Deutsche
Numis, PJT Partners and HSBC.
20.
General
Bidco reserves the right to elect (subject to
the consent of the Panel, where necessary, and the terms of the
Co-operation Agreement) to implement the Acquisition by way of an
Offer as an alternative to the Scheme. In such event, the Offer
will be implemented on substantially the same terms and conditions,
so far as is applicable, as those which would apply to the Scheme,
subject to appropriate amendments (including replacing Conditions
2(a), 2(b) and
2(c) set out in Part A of Appendix I) and
an acceptance condition set at 75 per cent. (or such lesser
percentage as Bidco may decide in accordance with the terms of the
Co-operation Agreement or as required by the Panel, being in any
case more than 50 per cent.) of LTG Shares to which the Offer
relates.
If the Acquisition is implemented by way of an
Offer, and such Offer becomes or is declared unconditional and
sufficient acceptances are received, Bidco intends to: (i) make a
request to the London Stock Exchange to cancel the admission to
trading of LTG Shares on AIM; and (ii) exercise its rights to apply
the provisions of Chapter 3 of Part 28 of the Companies Act so as
to acquire compulsorily the remaining LTG Shares in respect of
which the Offer has not been accepted. Investors should be aware
that Bidco may purchase LTG Shares otherwise than under the Scheme
or any Offer, including pursuant to privately negotiated
purchases.
The Acquisition
will be on the terms and subject to the Conditions set out herein
and in Appendix I, and to the full terms and conditions set out in
the Scheme Document. The bases of calculations and sources for
certain financial information contained in this Announcement are
set out in Appendix II. Details of the irrevocable undertakings
received by Bidco in relation to the Acquisition are set out in
Appendix III. Details of Topco, the Intermediate Midcos, Bidco, the
Rollover Securities, as well as the key terms of the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are set out in
Appendix IV. Certain confirmations from the LTG Directors are set
out in Appendix V. Certain definitions and terms used in this
Announcement are set out in Appendix VI.
The Scheme Document, together with the
associated Forms of Proxy and Form(s) of Election, will be
dispatched to LTG Shareholders as soon as practicable and, in any
event, within 28 days of this Announcement (or such later time as
LTG, Bidco and the Panel may agree). A copy of the KYC Form for
completion of the requisite "know your customer" checks in
connection with the Rollover Securities
is expected to be made available at the time of
publication of the Scheme Document. A copy of the Scheme Document
is also expected to be sent (for information purposes only) to
persons with information rights and participants in the LTG Share
Plans at the same time it is dispatched to LTG
Shareholders.
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Numis, HSBC and PJT
Partners have each given and not withdrawn their consent to the
publication of this Announcement with the inclusion herein of the
references to their names in the form and context in which they
appear.
Enquiries:
General
Atlantic (Media)
|
+(1) 212 715 4000
|
Emily Japlon
|
|
Sara Widmann
|
|
|
|
PJT Partners
(UK) Limited (Lead Financial Adviser to Bidco)
Kush Nanjee
|
+44 (0)20 3650 1100
|
Hugo Baring
|
|
Henry Lebus
|
|
Michael Gilbert
|
+(1) 212 364 7800
|
Jitesh Jeswani
|
|
|
|
HSBC Bank plc
(Joint Financial Adviser to Bidco)
|
+44 (0)20 7991 8888
|
Anthony Parsons
|
|
Christopher Fincken
|
|
Gregory Scott
|
|
Bhavin Dixit
|
|
Alex Thomas
|
|
|
|
Edelman Smithfield (Communications
Adviser to Bidco)
|
+44 7970 174 353
|
Alex Simmons
|
|
|
|
LTG
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive
|
+44 (0)20 7832 3440
|
Kath Kearney-Croft, Chief Financial
Officer
|
|
|
|
Goldman Sachs
International (Lead Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker to
LTG)
Nick Harper
|
+44 (0)20 7774 1000
|
Khamran Ali
|
|
Bertie Whitehead
|
|
Adam Laikin
|
|
Lorenzo Carlino
|
|
|
|
Deutsche Numis
(NOMAD, Joint Financial Adviser and Corporate Broker to
LTG)
|
+44 (0)20 7260 1000
|
Nick Westlake
|
|
Ben Stoop
|
|
Alec Pratt
|
|
Tejas Padalkar
|
|
Alexander Kladov
|
|
|
|
FTI Consulting
(Communications Adviser to LTG)
|
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
LTG@fticonsulting.com
|
Jamie Ricketts
|
|
Emma Hall
|
|
Lucy Highland
|
|
|
|
The person responsible for arranging the release
of this Announcement on behalf of LTG is Claire Walsh, Company
Secretary of LTG.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
is retained as legal adviser to Bidco and General
Atlantic.
DLA Piper UK LLP is retained as legal adviser to
LTG.
Important Notices
HSBC Bank plc
("HSBC"), which is
authorised by the PRA and regulated in the UK by the FCA and the
PRA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to Bidco and no one
else in connection with the Acquisition and will not be responsible
to anyone other than Bidco for providing the protections afforded
to clients of HSBC nor for providing advice in connection with the
Acquisition or any matter referred to herein.
Neither HSBC nor any of its subsidiaries, branches
or affiliates, nor any of its or their respective partners,
directors, employees, officers, agents or representatives owes or
accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether
direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or
otherwise) to any person who is not a client of HSBC in connection
with this Announcement, the Acquisition, any statement contained
herein or otherwise.
PJT Partners
(UK) Limited ("PJT
Partners"), which is authorised and regulated in the UK by
the FCA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to Bidco and no
one else in connection with the Acquisition and will not be
responsible to anyone other than Bidco for providing the
protections afforded to clients of PJT Partners nor for providing
advice in connection with the Acquisition or any matter referred to
herein. Neither PJT Partners nor any of its subsidiaries, branches
or affiliates, nor any of its or their respective partners,
directors, employees, officers, agents or representatives owes or
accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether
direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or
otherwise) to any person who is not a client of PJT Partners in
connection with this Announcement, the Acquisition, any statement
contained herein or otherwise.
Goldman Sachs
International ("Goldman
Sachs"), which is authorised by the PRA and regulated by the
FCA and the PRA in the United Kingdom, is acting exclusively for
LTG as financial adviser and no one else in connection with the
Acquisition and other matters set out in this Announcement and will
not be responsible to anyone other than LTG for providing the
protections afforded to clients of Goldman Sachs, nor for providing
advice in connection with the Acquisition, the content of this
Announcement or any matter referred to herein. Neither Goldman
Sachs nor any of Goldman Sachs' subsidiaries, affiliates or
branches owes or accepts any duty, liability or responsibility
whatsoever (whether direct, indirect, consequential, whether in
contract, in tort, under statute or otherwise) to any person who is
not a client of Goldman Sachs in connection with this Announcement,
any statement contained herein or otherwise.
Numis
Securities Limited (trading as "Deutsche Numis"), which is authorised
and regulated in the UK by the FCA, is acting exclusively as
financial adviser to LTG and no one else in connection with the
Acquisition, will not regard any other person as its client in
relation to the matters in this Announcement and will not be
responsible to anyone other than LTG for providing the protections
afforded to clients of Deutsche Numis nor for providing advice in
connection with the Acquisition or any matter referred to herein.
Neither Deutsche Numis nor any of its affiliates (nor any of their
respective directors, officers, employees or agents), owes or
accepts any duty, liability or responsibility whatsoever (whether
direct or indirect, whether in contract, in tort, under statute or
otherwise) to any person who is not a client of Deutsche Numis in
connection with the Acquisition or any statement contained herein
or otherwise. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is
made by Deutsche Numis as to the contents of this
Announcement.
This
Announcement is for information purposes only. It does not
constitute, and is not intended to constitute, or form part of, any
offer, invitation or solicitation of an offer to purchase,
otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell or otherwise dispose of any
securities, or the solicitation of any vote or approval in any
jurisdiction, pursuant to the Acquisition or otherwise, nor will
there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any
jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. The Acquisition
will be made solely pursuant to the terms of the Scheme Document
(or, if the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, the
Offer Document), which will contain the full terms and conditions
of the Acquisition, including details of how to vote in respect of
the Acquisition. Any vote or decision in respect of, or other
response to, the Acquisition should be made only on the basis of
the information in the Scheme Document (or, if the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, the Offer
Document).
LTG will
prepare the Scheme Document to be distributed to LTG Shareholders.
LTG and Bidco urge LTG Shareholders to read the Scheme Document
when it becomes available because it will contain important
information in relation to the Acquisition.
This
Announcement does not constitute a prospectus or prospectus
exemption document.
This
Announcement has been prepared for the purpose of complying with
the laws of England and Wales and the Code and the information
disclosed may not be the same as that which would have been
disclosed if this Announcement had been prepared in accordance with
the laws of jurisdictions outside England and
Wales.
Overseas Shareholders
The release,
publication or distribution of this Announcement in or into certain
jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom may be restricted by
law. Persons who are not resident in the United Kingdom or who are
subject to other jurisdictions should inform themselves of, and
observe, any applicable requirements.
Unless
otherwise determined by Bidco or required by the Code, and
permitted by applicable law and regulation, the Acquisition will
not be made available, directly or indirectly, in, into or from a
Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate the laws in
that jurisdiction and no person may vote in favour of the
Acquisition by any such use, means, instrumentality or from within
a Restricted Jurisdiction or any other jurisdiction if to do so
would constitute a violation of the laws of that jurisdiction.
Accordingly, copies of this Announcement and all documents relating
to the Acquisition are not being, and must not be, directly or
indirectly, mailed or otherwise forwarded, distributed or sent in,
into or from a Restricted Jurisdiction where to do so would violate
the laws in that jurisdiction, and persons receiving this
Announcement and all documents relating to the Acquisition
(including custodians, nominees and trustees) must not mail or
otherwise distribute or send them in, into or from such
jurisdictions where to do so would violate the laws in that
jurisdiction.
The
availability of the Acquisition to LTG Shareholders who are not
resident in the United Kingdom may be affected by the laws of the
relevant jurisdictions in which they are resident. Persons who are
not resident in the United Kingdom should inform themselves of, and
observe, any applicable legal and regulatory
requirements.
The Rollover
Securities are not being offered, sold, resold, taken up,
transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly, in, into or from
any Restricted Jurisdiction or to, or for the account or benefit
of, any Overseas Shareholders who are resident in, or are nationals
or citizens of, any Restricted Jurisdiction (or who are nominees,
custodians, trustees or guardians for, citizens, residents or
nationals of such Restricted Jurisdictions), except pursuant to an
applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to,
applicable securities laws of those jurisdictions and/or where all
regulatory approvals (where applicable) have been validly obtained.
Any individual acceptances of an Alternative Offer will only be
valid if all regulatory approvals by an LTG Shareholder to acquire
the relevant Rollover Securities have been
obtained.
LTG
Shareholders should be aware that the transaction contemplated
herein may have tax consequences and that such consequences, if
any, are not described herein. LTG Shareholders are urged to
consult with appropriate legal, tax and financial advisers in
connection with the consequences of the Acquisition (including any
election for an Alternative Offer) on them. It is intended that the
Bidco Rollover Securities, Midco 3 Rollover Securities, Midco 2
Rollover Securities and Midco 1 Rollover Securities constitute
non-qualifying corporate bonds for holders of such securities who
are UK tax resident individuals.
The
Acquisition will be subject to the laws of England and Wales, the
jurisdiction of the Court, and the applicable requirements of the
Code, the Panel, the AIM Rules, the London Stock Exchange and the
FCA.
Additional information for U.S.
investors
The
Acquisition relates to shares of a UK company and is proposed to be
implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement under the laws of
England and Wales. A transaction implemented by means of a scheme
of arrangement is not subject to the tender offer rules or the
proxy solicitation rules under the U.S. Exchange
Act.
Accordingly,
the Acquisition is subject to the disclosure and procedural
requirements applicable in the United Kingdom to schemes of
arrangement which differ from the disclosure requirements of United
States tender offer and proxy solicitation rules.
The receipt of
consideration by a U.S. holder for the transfer of its LTG Shares
pursuant to the Scheme may have tax consequences in the United
States. Each LTG Shareholder is urged to consult their independent
professional adviser immediately regarding the tax consequences of
the Acquisition applicable to them, including under applicable
United States state, federal and local, as well as overseas and
other tax laws.
Financial
information relating to LTG included in this Announcement and the
Scheme Document has been or shall have been prepared in accordance
with accounting standards applicable in the United Kingdom and may
not be comparable to financial information of U.S. companies or
companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles in the United
States.
Bidco and LTG
are organised under the laws of England and Wales. Some or all of
the officers and directors of Bidco and LTG, respectively, are
residents of countries other than the United States. ln addition,
most of the assets of LTG are located outside the United States. As
a result, it may be difficult for U.S. shareholders of LTG to
effect service of process within the United States upon Bidco or
LTG or their respective officers or directors or to enforce against
them a judgment of a U.S. court predicated upon the federal or
state securities laws of the United States.
The Rollover
Securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the
U.S. Securities Act, or applicable state securities laws.
Accordingly, the Rollover Securities may not be offered, sold,
resold, taken up, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly,
in the United States absent registration or an available exemption
or a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of
the U.S. Securities Act. Accordingly, the Rollover Securities will
not be issued to LTG Shareholders unless Bidco determines that they
may be issued pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction
that is not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S.
Securities Act as provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S.
Securities Act or another available exemption.
The Rollover
Securities are expected to be issued in reliance on the exemption
from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act set
forth in Section 3(a)(10) thereof on the basis of the approval of
the Court, and similar exemptions from registration under
applicable state securities laws. Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S.
Securities Act exempts the issuance of any securities issued in
exchange for one or more bona fide outstanding securities from the
general requirement of registration under the U.S. Securities Act,
where the terms and conditions of the issuance and exchange of such
securities have been approved by a court of competent jurisdiction
that is expressly authorised by law to grant such approval, after a
hearing upon the substantive and procedural fairness of the terms
and conditions of such issuance and exchange at which all persons
to whom it is proposed to issue the securities have the right to
appear and receive timely and adequate notice thereof. The Court is
authorised to conduct a hearing at which the substantive and
procedural fairness of the terms and conditions of the Scheme will
be considered. For the purposes of qualifying for the exemption
provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act, LTG will
advise the Court before the hearing that the Court's approval of
the Scheme will constitute the basis for an exemption from the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act, pursuant to
Section 3(a)(10).
THE
SCHEME AND THE ROLLOVER SECURITIES TO BE ISSUED IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SEC OR ANY
OTHER SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF ANY STATE OF THE UNITED
STATES, NOR HAS THE SEC OR ANY SECURITIES REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF
ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES PASSED UPON THE FAIRNESS OR THE
MERITS OF THIS TRANSACTION OR UPON THE ACCURACY OR ADEQUACY OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY REPRESENTATION TO
THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE.
Forward-looking
statements
This
Announcement (including information incorporated by reference in
this Announcement), oral statements made regarding the Acquisition,
and other information published by LTG, Bidco, any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group, any member of the Wider Bidco
Group or General Atlantic, contain statements which are, or may be
deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". Such forward-looking
statements are prospective in nature and are not based on
historical facts, but rather on current expectations and on
numerous assumptions regarding the business strategies and the
environment in which Bidco and LTG shall operate in the future and
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
those statements.
The
forward-looking statements contained in this Announcement relate to
Bidco and LTG's future prospects, developments and business
strategies, the expected timing and scope of the Acquisition and
other statements other than historical facts. In some cases, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes",
"estimates", "will look to", "would look to", "plans", "prepares",
"anticipates", "expects", "is expected to", "is subject to",
"budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "synergy", "strategy", "goal",
"cost-saving", "projects", "intends", "may", "will", "shall" or
"should" or their negatives or other variations or comparable
terminology. Forward-looking statements may include statements
relating to the following: (i) future capital expenditures,
expenses, revenues, earnings, synergies, economic performance,
indebtedness, financial condition, dividend policy, losses and
future prospects; (ii) business and management strategies and the
expansion and growth of Bidco's, LTG's, any member of the Bidco
Group's or any member of the Group's operations and potential
synergies resulting from the Acquisition; and (iii) the effects of
global economic conditions and governmental regulation on Bidco's,
LTG's, any member of the Bidco Group's or any member of the Group's
business.
Although Bidco
and LTG believe that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are reasonable, neither Bidco nor LTG
(nor any of their respective associates or directors, officers or
advisers) can give any assurance that such expectations will prove
to be correct. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve
risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on
circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of
factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements.
These factors
include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability to complete the
Acquisition; (ii) the ability to obtain requisite regulatory and
shareholder approvals and the satisfaction of other Conditions on
the proposed terms and schedule; (iii) changes in the global,
political, economic, business and competitive environments and in
market and regulatory forces; (iv) changes in future exchange and
interest rates; (v) changes in tax rates; (vi) future business
combinations or disposals; (vii) changes in general economic and
business conditions; (viii) changes in the behaviour of other
market participants; (ix) changes in the anticipated benefits from
the proposed transaction not being realised as a result of changes
in general economic and market conditions in the countries in which
Bidco and LTG operate; (x) weak, volatile or illiquid capital
and/or credit markets; (xi) changes in the degree of competition in
the geographic and business areas in which Bidco and LTG operate;
(xii) changes in laws or in supervisory expectations or requirements; and (xiii) any epidemic or
pandemic or disease outbreak or global health crisis. Other unknown
or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expected, estimated or projected in the
forward-looking statements. If any one or more of these risks or
uncertainties materialises or if any one or more of the assumptions
proves incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those
expected, estimated or projected. Such forward-looking statements
should therefore be construed in the light of such
factors.
Neither LTG
nor Bidco, nor any of their respective associates, directors,
officers or advisers, provides any representation, assurance or
guarantee that the occurrence of the events expressed or implied in
any forward-looking statements in this Announcement will actually
occur. Given these risks and uncertainties, potential investors
should not place any reliance on forward-looking
statements.
Specifically,
statements of estimated cost savings and synergies relate to future
actions and circumstances which, by their nature involve risks,
uncertainties and contingencies. As a result, the cost savings and
synergies referred to may not be achieved, may be achieved later or
sooner than estimated, or those achieved could be materially
different from those estimated. Due to the scale of the Group,
there may be additional changes to the Group's operations. As a
result, and given the fact that the changes relate to the future,
the resulting cost synergies may be materially greater or less than
those estimated.
The
forward-looking statements speak only at the date of this
Announcement. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking
statements attributable to Bidco, LTG, any member of the Bidco
Group or the Group, or any of their respective associates,
directors, officers, employees or advisers, are expressly qualified
in their entirety by the cautionary statement
above.
LTG and Bidco
(and their respective associates, directors, officers or advisers)
expressly disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, other than as required by law or by
the rules of any competent regulatory authority, whether as a
result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Disclosure requirements of the
Code
Under Rule
8.3(a) of the Code, any person who is interested in 1 per cent. or
more of any class of relevant securities of a target company or of
any securities exchange bidder (being any bidder other than a
bidder in respect of which it has been announced that its offer is,
or is likely to be, solely in cash) must make an Opening Position
Disclosure following the commencement of the offer period and, if
later, following the announcement in which any securities exchange
bidder is first identified. An Opening Position Disclosure must
contain details of the person's interests and short positions in,
and rights to subscribe for, any relevant securities of each of:
(i) the target company; and (ii) any securities exchange bidder(s).
An Opening Position Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(a)
applies must be made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on
the 10th business day following the commencement of the offer
period and, if appropriate, by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London
time) on the 10th business day following the announcement in which
any securities exchange bidder is first identified. Relevant
persons who deal in the relevant securities of the target company
or of a securities exchange bidder prior to the deadline for making
an Opening Position Disclosure must instead make a Dealing
Disclosure.
Under Rule
8.3(b) of the Code, any person who is, or becomes, interested in 1
per cent. or more of any class of relevant securities of the target
company or of any securities exchange bidder must make a Dealing
Disclosure if the person deals in any relevant securities of the
target company or of any securities exchange bidder. A Dealing
Disclosure must contain details of the dealing concerned and of the
person's interests and short positions in, and rights to subscribe
for, any relevant securities of each of: (i) the target company;
and (ii) any securities exchange bidder(s), save to the extent that
these details have previously been disclosed under Rule 8. A
Dealing Disclosure by a person to whom Rule 8.3(b) applies must be
made by no later than 3.30 p.m. (London time) on the business day
following the date of the relevant dealing.
If two or more
persons act together pursuant to an agreement or understanding,
whether formal or informal, to acquire or control an interest in
relevant securities of a target company or a securities exchange
bidder, they shall be deemed to be a single person for the purpose
of Rule 8.3.
Opening
Position Disclosures must also be made by the target company and by
any bidder and Dealing Disclosures must also be made by the target
company, by any bidder and by any persons acting in concert with
any of them (see Rules 8.1, 8.2 and 8.4).
Details of the
target and bidder companies in respect of whose relevant securities
Opening Position Disclosures and Dealing Disclosures must be made
can be found in the Disclosure Table on the Panel's website
at http://www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk/,
including details of the number of relevant securities in issue,
when the offer period commenced and when any bidder was first
identified. You should contact the Panel's Market Surveillance Unit
on +44 (0)20 7638 0129 if you are in any doubt as to whether you
are required to make an Opening Position Disclosure or a Dealing
Disclosure.
No
profit forecasts, estimates or quantified benefits
statement
Save for the
LTG Statement set out in paragraph 9 and Appendix V, no statement in this
Announcement is intended as a profit forecast, profit estimate or
quantified benefits statement for any period and no statement in
this Announcement should be interpreted to mean that earnings or
earnings per share for Bidco or LTG, as appropriate, for the
current or future financial years would necessarily match or exceed
the historical published earnings or earnings per share for Bidco
or LTG, as appropriate.
Publication on website and availability
of hard copies
A copy of this
Announcement will be made available, subject to certain
restrictions relating to persons resident in Restricted
Jurisdictions, on Bidco's and LTG's websites at
https://announcements-ga.com/
and https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/,
respectively, by no later than 12 noon (London time) on 5 December
2024. For the avoidance of doubt, the contents of these websites or
any other website accessible from hyperlinks are not incorporated
into and do not form part of this Announcement.
You may
request a hard copy of this Announcement by contacting
Computershare Investor Services PLC at The Pavilions, Bridgwater
Road, Bristol, BS99 6ZZ or by telephone on +44 (0)370 702 0000. You
may also request that all future documents, announcements and
information to be sent to you in relation to the Acquisition should
be in hard copy form.
Electronic
communications
Please be
aware that addresses, electronic addresses and certain other
information provided by LTG Shareholders, persons with information
rights and other relevant persons for the receipt of communications
from LTG may be provided to Bidco during the Offer Period as
required under Section 4 of Appendix 4 of the Code to comply with
Rule 2.11(c) of the Code.
Rounding
Certain
figures included in this Announcement have been subjected to
rounding adjustments. Accordingly, figures shown for the same
category presented in different tables may vary slightly and
figures shown as totals in certain tables may not be an arithmetic
aggregation of the figures that precede them.
General
Bidco reserves
the right to elect (subject to the consent of the Panel, where
necessary, and the terms of the Co-operation Agreement) to
implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer as an alternative to
the Scheme. In such event, the Offer will be implemented on
substantially the same terms and conditions, so far as is
applicable, as those which would apply to the Scheme (subject to
appropriate amendments to reflect the change in method of
implementation and the terms of the Co-operation
Agreement).
If the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, and such an Offer
becomes or is declared unconditional and sufficient acceptances are
received, Bidco intends to: (i) make a request to the London Stock
Exchange to cancel the admission to trading of LTG Shares on AIM;
and (ii) exercise its rights to apply the provisions of Chapter 3
of Part 28 of the Companies Act so as to acquire compulsorily the
remaining LTG Shares in respect of which the Offer has not been
accepted.
Investors
should be aware that Bidco may purchase LTG Shares otherwise than
under any Offer or the Scheme, including pursuant to privately
negotiated purchases.
If you are in
any doubt about the contents of this Announcement or the action you
should take, you are recommended to seek your own independent
financial advice immediately from your stockbroker, bank manager,
solicitor or independent financial adviser duly authorised under
FSMA if you are resident in the United Kingdom or, if not, from
another appropriate authorised independent financial
adviser.
Inside information
The
information in this Announcement is deemed by LTG to constitute
inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(EU) No. 596/2014 (as it forms part of domestic law by virtue of
the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018). On the publication of
this Announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside
information is now considered to be in the public
domain.
Rule 2.9 Disclosure
In accordance
with Rule 2.9 of the Code, as at the date of this Announcement, LTG
confirms that it has 792,346,573 ordinary shares of £0.00375 each
in issue (including 179,340 ordinary shares held through its
employee benefit trust) and admitted to trading on AIM, a market
operated by the London Stock Exchange. There are no shares held in
treasury. The International Securities Identification Number (ISIN)
for the ordinary shares is GB00B4T7HX10.
APPENDIX I
CONDITIONS AND FURTHER TERMS OF THE
ACQUISITION
PART A:
CONDITIONS TO THE SCHEME AND THE ACQUISITION
Long-Stop
Date
1.
The Acquisition is conditional upon the Scheme becoming
unconditional and effective, subject to the Code, by no later than
11.59 p.m. (London time) on the Long-Stop Date or such later date
(if any) as Bidco and LTG may agree and, if required, with the
consent of the Panel.
Scheme
approval condition
2.
The Scheme will be conditional upon:
(a)
(i)
its approval by a majority in number of the LTG Shareholders who
are present and voting (and entitled to vote), either in person or
by proxy, at the Court Meeting (and at any separate class meeting
which may be required by the Court (or any adjournment thereof), if
applicable), and who represent not less than 75 per cent. in value
of the LTG Shares voted by those LTG Shareholders; and
(ii)
the Court Meeting (and at any separate class meeting which may be
required by the Court (or any adjournment thereof), if applicable)
being held on or before the 22nd day after the expected date of the
Court Meeting to be set out in the Scheme Document in due course
(or such later date as Bidco and LTG may agree, or, in a
competitive situation, as may be specified by Bidco with the
consent of the Panel and, in each case, if required, the Court may
allow);
(b)
(i)
the Resolution being duly passed by LTG Shareholders representing
75 per cent. or more of votes cast at the General Meeting;
and
(ii)
the General Meeting (and at any separate class meeting which may be
required (or any adjournment thereof), if applicable) being held on
or before the 22nd day after the expected date of the General
Meeting to be set out in the Scheme Document in due course (or such
later date as Bidco and LTG may agree, or, in a competitive
situation, as may be specified by Bidco with the consent of the
Panel and, in each case, if required, the Court may
allow);
(c)
(i)
the sanction of the Scheme by the Court (with or without
modification, but subject to any such modification being on terms
acceptable to Bidco and LTG) and the delivery of a copy of the
Court Order to the Registrar of Companies; and
(ii)
the Sanction Hearing being held on or before the 22nd day after the
expected date of the Sanction Hearing to be set out in the Scheme
Document in due course (or such later date as Bidco and LTG may
agree, or, in a competitive situation, as may be specified by Bidco
with the consent of the Panel and, in each case, if required, the
Court may allow).
General
conditions
3.
In addition, subject to Part B of Appendix I and the
requirements of the Panel, Bidco and LTG have agreed that the
Acquisition will be conditional upon the following Conditions and,
accordingly, the Court Order will not be delivered to the Registrar
of Companies unless such Conditions (as amended, if appropriate)
have been satisfied or (where applicable) waived:
Official authorisations, regulatory
clearances and Third Party clearances
Competition
and Markets Authority
(a)
either:
(i)
the Competition and Markets Authority (the "CMA") having indicated in response to a
briefing paper that it has no further questions at that stage in
relation to the Acquisition and that at the date on which all other
Conditions are satisfied or waived, in relation to the Acquisition,
the CMA has not:
(A)
requested submission of a merger notice pursuant to section 96 of
the Enterprise Act 2002 (the "EA");
(B)
indicated to either party that it is commencing an investigation to
decide whether to make a reference under section 33 of the EA (a
"Phase 1 CMA
Investigation");
(C)
indicated that the statutory review period stipulated in section
34ZA of the EA for a Phase 1 CMA Investigation has begun;
or
(D)
requested documents, information or attendance by witnesses
(including under section 109 of the EA) which indicate that it
intends to commence a Phase 1 CMA Investigation; or
(ii)
where the CMA has commenced an investigation following the
submission of a merger notice, the CMA:
(A)
in accordance with section 33(1) of the EA,
announcing that it has decided not to refer the Merger to the chair
of the CMA for the constitution of a group under Schedule 4 to the
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (a "Phase 2 CMA Reference");
or
(B)
in accordance with section 73(2) of the EA,
formally accepting undertakings in lieu of a Phase 2 CMA Reference
offered by Bidco, or a modified version of them;
UK National
Security and Investment
(b)
the requisite notification under the National Security and
Investment Act 2021 (the "NSI
Act") having been made and, if accepted, the Secretary of
State confirming that no further action will be taken under the NSI
Act in relation to the Acquisition or making a final order under
the NSI Act in respect of the Acquisition, the provisions of which
allow the Acquisition to proceed on terms satisfactory to
Bidco;
Germany
(c)
the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) deciding that
the prohibition criteria in the German Act against Restraints of
Competition 1957, as amended (Gesetz gegen
Wettbewerbsbeschrankungen 1957, "GWB") are not satisfied, or the German
Federal Cartel Office being deemed to have made such a decision in
accordance with the GWB, in relation to the Acquisition;
U.S.
HSR
(d)
all filings having been made and all or any appropriate waiting
periods (including any extension thereof and any timing agreement
entered into with a Relevant Authority to delay or not to
consummate the transactions entered in connection therewith) under
the United States Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of
1976 and the regulations thereunder having expired, lapsed or been
terminated as appropriate in each case in respect of the
Acquisition and the proposed acquisition of any LTG Shares or
control of LTG by Bidco or any member of the Bidco Group;
and
Other
(e)
(i)
if and to the extent that any or all of Conditions 3(a) to (d)
inclusive are waived or are not invoked by Bidco, all
authorisations, orders, grants, recognitions, determinations,
confirmations, consents, licences, clearances, permissions,
exemptions and approvals from the authorities referred to in
Conditions 3(a) to (d) (inclusive) (for the purposes of this
Condition 3(e) each a "Clearance" as defined in Appendix VI)
including, without limitation, any Clearance in connection with any
Phase 2 CMA Reference and/or any "phase 2" or similar "in depth"
review by any of the authorities referred to in Conditions 3(a) to
(d) (inclusive) having been obtained; or
(ii)
any other Clearance deemed necessary or appropriate by Bidco or any
member of the Wider Bidco Group for or in respect of the
Acquisition (including, without limitation, its implementation and
financing or the proposed direct or indirect acquisition of any
shares or other securities in, or control of, LTG or any member of
the Wider Learning Technologies Group by any member of Wider Bidco
Group) having been obtained,
in the case of each of Conditions 3(e)(i) and
(ii) in terms and in a form and subject to conditions that are
satisfactory to Bidco and all such Clearances remaining in full
force and effect and all filings necessary for such purpose having
been made and there being no notice or intimation of any intention
to revoke or not to renew any of the same at the time at which the
Acquisition becomes Effective.
Notifications, waiting periods and
Authorisations
(f)
other than in relation to the matters referred to in Conditions
3(a) to (e)
(inclusive), the waiver (or non-exercise within any
applicable time limits) by any Third Party of any termination
right, right of pre-emption, first refusal or similar right arising
as a result of or in connection with the Acquisition including,
without limitation, its implementation and financing or the
proposed direct or indirect acquisition of any shares or other
securities in, or control or management of, LTG by Bidco or any
member of the Wider Bidco Group;
(g)
other than in relation to the matters referred to in Conditions
3(a) to (e)
(inclusive), all notifications, filings or applications which
are necessary or reasonably considered appropriate or desirable by
Bidco to be required in any jurisdiction having been made in
connection with the Acquisition and all necessary waiting periods
(including any extensions thereof) under any applicable legislation
or regulation of any jurisdiction having expired, lapsed or been
terminated (as appropriate) and all statutory and regulatory
obligations in any jurisdiction having been complied with in each
case in respect of the Acquisition and all Authorisations deemed
necessary or appropriate by Bidco or any member of the Wider Bidco
Group in any jurisdiction for or in respect of the Acquisition
(including, without limitation, its implementation or financing)
or, except pursuant to Chapter 3 of Part 28 of the Companies Act,
the proposed direct or indirect acquisition of any shares or other
securities in, or control or management of, LTG or any other member
of the Wider Learning Technologies Group by any member of the Wider
Bidco Group having been obtained in terms and in a form
satisfactory to Bidco from all appropriate Third Parties or
(without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) from any
person or bodies with whom any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group has entered into contractual arrangements and
all such Authorisations necessary, appropriate or desirable to
carry on the business of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group in any jurisdiction having been obtained and all
such Authorisations for or in respect of the Acquisition
(including, without limitation, its implementation or financing)
remaining in full force and effect at the time the Acquisition
becomes Effective and all filings necessary for such purpose have
been made and there being no notice or intimation of an intention
to revoke, suspend, restrict, modify or not to renew such
Authorisations at the time at which the Acquisition becomes
Effective and all necessary statutory or regulatory obligations in
any jurisdiction having been complied with;
General antitrust and
regulatory
(h)
other than in relation to the matters referred to in Conditions
3(a) to 3(e)
(inclusive), no Third Party having given notice of a decision
to take, institute, implement or threaten any action, proceeding,
suit, investigation, enquiry or reference (and in each case, not
having withdrawn the same), or having required any action to be
taken or otherwise having done anything, or having enacted, made or
proposed any statute, regulation, decision, order or change to
published practice (and in each case, not having withdrawn the
same) or having taken any other step, and there not continuing to
be outstanding any statute, regulation, decision or order, which in
each case would or might be expected to:
(i)
require, prevent or delay the divestiture or alter the terms
envisaged for any proposed divestiture by any member of the Wider
Bidco Group or by any member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group of all or any portion of their respective businesses, assets
or property or impose any limitation on the ability of all or any
of them to conduct their respective businesses (or any part
thereof) or to own, control or manage any of their respective
assets or properties (or any part thereof);
(ii)
require, prevent or delay the divestiture by any member of the
Wider Bidco Group of any shares or other securities (or the
equivalent) in LTG;
(iii)
impose any limitation on, or result in a delay in, the ability of
any member of the Wider Bidco Group directly or indirectly to
acquire, hold or to exercise effectively all or any rights of
ownership in respect of shares or loans or securities convertible
into shares or any other securities (or the equivalent) in any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group or the Wider Bidco
Group or on the ability of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group or the Wider Bidco Group to directly or
indirectly hold or exercise effectively all or any rights of
ownership in respect of shares or loans or securities convertible
into shares or any other securities (or the equivalent) in, or to
exercise voting or management control over, any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group or Wider Bidco Group;
(iv)
otherwise adversely affect any or all of the business, assets,
profits or prospects of any member of the Wider Bidco Group or of
any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group;
(v)
make the Acquisition, its implementation or the acquisition or
proposed acquisition of any shares or other securities in, or
control or management of, LTG by any member of the Wider Bidco
Group void, illegal and/or unenforceable under the laws of any
jurisdiction, or otherwise, directly or indirectly prevent or
restrain, restrict, prohibit, delay or otherwise interfere with the
same, or impose additional conditions or obligations with respect
to, or otherwise challenge, impede, interfere or require amendment
of the Acquisition or the acquisition or proposed acquisition of
any shares or other securities in, or control or management of, any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group or the Wider Bidco
Group;
(vi)
require any member of the Wider Bidco Group or the Wider Learning
Technologies Group to acquire or offer to acquire any shares, other
securities (or the equivalent) or interest in any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group or the Wider Bidco Group or any
asset owned by any Third Party (other than in the implementation of
the Acquisition);
(vii) impose
any limitation on the ability of any member of the Wider Bidco
Group or any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group to
conduct, integrate or co-ordinate all or any part of its business
with all or any part of the business of any other member of the
Wider Bidco Group and/or the Wider Learning Technologies Group;
or
(viii) result in
any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group ceasing to be
able to carry on business under any name under which it presently
carries on business,
and all applicable waiting and other time
periods (including any extensions thereof) during which any such
Third Party could decide to take, institute, implement or threaten
any action, proceeding, suit, investigation, enquiry or reference
or any other step under the laws of any jurisdiction in respect of
the Acquisition or the acquisition or proposed acquisition of any
LTG Shares or otherwise intervene having expired, lapsed or been
terminated;
Certain matters arising as a result of
any arrangement, agreement, etc.
(i)
except as Disclosed, there being no provision of any arrangement,
agreement, lease, licence, franchise, permit or other instrument to
which any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is a
party or by or to which any such member or any of its assets is or
may be bound, entitled or subject, or any event or circumstance
which, as a consequence of the Acquisition or the acquisition (or
the proposed acquisition) by any member of the Wider Bidco Group of
any shares or other securities (or the equivalent) in LTG or
because of a change in the control or management of any member of
the Wider Learning Technologies Group or otherwise, could or might
be expected to result in any of the following, in each case to an
extent which is material in the context of the Wider Bidco Group
taken as a whole:
(i)
any monies borrowed by, or any other indebtedness or liabilities
(actual or contingent) of, or any grant available to, any member of
the Wider Learning Technologies Group, being or becoming repayable,
or capable of being declared repayable, immediately or prior to its
or their stated maturity date or repayment date, or the ability of
any such member to borrow monies or incur any indebtedness being
withdrawn or inhibited or being capable of becoming or being
withdrawn or inhibited;
(ii)
any such arrangement, agreement, lease, licence, franchise, permit
or other instrument or the rights, liabilities, obligations or
interests of any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group
thereunder being terminated, or adversely modified or affected, or
any obligation or liability arising, or any action being taken or
arising thereunder;
(iii)
any assets or interests of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group being or failing to be disposed of or charged or
ceasing to be available to any such member or any right arising
under which any such asset or interest could be required to be
disposed of or charged or could cease to be available to any member
of the Wider Learning Technologies Group otherwise than in the
ordinary course of business;
(iv)
the creation or enforcement of any mortgage, charge or other
security interest over the whole or any part of the business,
property, or assets or interests of any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group or any such mortgage, charge or other
security interest (whenever created, arising or having arisen)
becoming enforceable;
(v)
the rights, liabilities, obligations, interests or business of any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group under any such
arrangement, agreement, licence, permit, lease or instrument or the
interests or business of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group in or with any other person or body or firm or
company (or any arrangement or agreement relating to any such
interests or business) being or becoming capable of being
terminated, or adversely modified or affected, or any obligation or
liability arising, or any action being taken or arising
thereunder;
(vi)
any liability of any member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group to make any severance, termination, bonus or other payment to
any of its directors or other officers;
(vii) the
value of, or the financial or trading position or prospects of, any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group being prejudiced or
adversely affected;
(viii) any member
of the Wider Learning Technologies Group ceasing to be able to
carry on business under any name under which it presently carries
on business; or
(ix)
the creation or acceleration of any liability, actual or
contingent, by any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group
(including any material tax liability or any obligation to obtain
or acquire any material Authorisation from any Third Party or any
person) other than trade creditors or other liabilities incurred in
the ordinary course of business or in connection with the
Acquisition,
and no event having occurred which, under any
provision of any arrangement, agreement, licence, permit,
franchise, lease or other instrument to which any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group is a party or by or to which any
such member or any of its assets are or may be bound, entitled or
subject, would or might reasonably be expected to result in any of
the events or circumstances as are referred to in Conditions
3(i)(i) to
(ix);
Certain events occurring
since 31 December
2023
(j)
except as Disclosed, no member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group having since 31 December 2023:
(i)
save as between LTG and wholly-owned subsidiaries of LTG or between
the wholly-owned subsidiaries of LTG and save for the issue or
transfer out of treasury of LTG Shares under or pursuant to the
exercise of options or vesting of awards granted under the LTG
Share Plans, issued or agreed to issue, authorised or proposed, or
announced its intention to authorise or propose the issue of
additional shares of any class, or securities or securities
convertible into, or exchangeable for, shares of any class or
rights, warrants or options to subscribe for or acquire, any such
shares, securities or convertible securities or transferred or sold
or agreed to transfer or sell or authorised or proposed the
transfer or sale of LTG Shares out of treasury;
(ii)
recommended, declared, paid or made or proposed to recommend,
declare, pay or make any bonus, dividend or other distribution or
return of capital or value (whether payable in cash or otherwise)
other than dividends (or other distributions whether payable in
cash or otherwise) lawfully paid or made by any wholly-owned
subsidiary of LTG to LTG or any of its wholly-owned
subsidiaries;
(iii)
other than pursuant to the Acquisition (and save for Acquisitions
between LTG and its wholly-owned subsidiaries or between the
wholly-owned subsidiaries of LTG and Acquisitions in the ordinary
course of business), implemented, effected, authorised or proposed
or announced its intention to implement, effect, authorise or
propose any merger, demerger, reconstruction, amalgamation, scheme,
commitment or acquisition or disposal of assets or shares or loan
capital (or the equivalent thereof) in any undertaking or
undertakings or other transaction or arrangement otherwise than in
the ordinary course of business;
(iv)
made, authorised, proposed or announced an intention to propose any
change in its loan capital;
(v)
merged or demerged with any body corporate or acquired or disposed
of, or transferred, mortgaged or charged or created any security
interest over any assets or any right, title or interest in any
asset (including shares and trade investments) or authorised,
proposed or announced any intention to do so;
(vi)
issued, authorised or proposed or announced an intention to
authorise or propose the issue of, or made any change in or to the
terms of, any debentures or become subject to any contingent
liability or incurred or increased any indebtedness or become
subject to any contingent liability;
(vii) entered
into any licence or other disposal of, or any encumbrance over,
intellectual property of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group;
(viii) entered into
or varied or authorised, proposed or announced its intention to
enter into or vary any contract, arrangement, agreement,
transaction or commitment (whether in respect of capital
expenditure or otherwise) which is of a long-term, unusual or
onerous nature or magnitude or which is or which involves or could
involve an obligation of such a nature or magnitude;
(ix)
entered into or varied or authorised, proposed or announced its
intention to enter into or vary the terms of, or made any offer
(which remains open for acceptance) to enter into or vary the terms
of any contract, service agreement, commitment or arrangement with
any director or senior executive of any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group;
(x)
proposed, agreed to provide or modified the terms of any of the LTG
Share Plans or any other benefit relating to the employment or
termination of employment of any employee of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group;
(xi)
purchased, redeemed or repaid or announced any proposal to
purchase, redeem or repay any of its own shares or other securities
or reduced or, save for in respect of the matters mentioned in
Condition (j)(i), made any
other change to any part of its share capital;
(xii) waived,
compromised or settled any claim;
(xiii) terminated
or varied the terms of any agreement or arrangement between any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group and any other
person;
(xiv)
made any alteration to its memorandum or articles of association or
other incorporation documents;
(xv) made or
agreed or consented to any change to:
(a)
the terms of the trust deeds and rules constituting the pension
scheme(s) established by any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group for its directors, employees or their
dependants;
(b)
the contributions payable to any such scheme(s) or to the benefits
which accrue, or to the pensions which are payable,
thereunder;
(c)
the basis on which qualification for, or accrual or entitlement to,
such benefits or pensions are calculated or determined;
or
(d)
the basis upon which the liabilities (including pensions) of such
pension schemes are funded, valued, made, agreed or consented
to;
(xvi)
been unable, or admitted in writing that it is unable, to pay its
debts or commenced negotiations with one or more of its creditors
with a view to rescheduling or restructuring any of its
indebtedness, or having stopped or suspended (or threatened to stop
or suspend) payment of its debts generally or ceased or threatened
to cease carrying on all or a substantial part of its
business;
(xvii)
taken or proposed any steps, corporate action or had any legal
proceedings instituted or threatened against it in relation to the
suspension of payments, a moratorium of any indebtedness, its
winding-up (voluntary or otherwise), dissolution, reorganisation or
for the appointment of a receiver, administrator, manager,
administrative receiver, trustee or similar officer of all or any
of its assets or revenues or any analogous or equivalent steps or
proceedings in any jurisdiction or appointed any analogous person
in any jurisdiction or had any such person appointed;
(xviii) entered
into, implemented or authorised the entry into, any contract,
transaction or arrangement which would be restrictive on the
business of any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group or
the Wider Bidco Group or any joint venture, asset or profit sharing
arrangement, partnership or merger of business or corporate
entities;
(xix)
taken, or agreed or proposed to take, any action which requires or
would require, the consent of the Panel or the approval of LTG
Shareholders in general meeting in accordance with, or as
contemplated by, Rule 21.1 of the Code; or
(xx) entered
into any agreement, arrangement, commitment or contract or passed
any resolution or made any offer (which remains open for
acceptance) with respect to or announced an intention to, or to
propose to, effect any of the transactions, matters or events
referred to in this Condition
3(j);
No
adverse change, litigation, regulatory enquiry or
similar
(k)
since 31 December 2023, and except as Disclosed, there having
been:
(i)
no adverse change or deterioration having occurred, and no
circumstance having arisen which would or might be expected to
result in any such adverse change or deterioration, in the
business, assets, financial or trading position or profits or
prospects or operational performance of any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group;
(ii)
no litigation, arbitration proceedings, prosecution or other legal
or regulatory proceedings to which any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group is or may become a party (whether as claimant,
defendant or otherwise) and no enquiry, review or investigation by,
or complaint or reference to, any Third Party or other
investigative body against or in respect of any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group having been announced, instituted,
implemented or threatened by or against or remaining outstanding
by, against or in respect of, any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group;
(iii)
no contingent or other liability of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group having arisen, increased or become apparent to
Bidco;
(iv) no
enquiry, review or investigation by, or complaint or reference to,
any Third Party having been announced, instituted, implemented or
threatened by or remaining outstanding against or in respect of any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group;
(v)
no steps having been taken and no omissions having been made which
are likely to result in the withdrawal, cancellation, termination
or modification of any licence or permit held by any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group which is necessary for the proper
carrying on of its business; and
(vi) no
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group having conducted
its business in breach of any applicable laws and
regulations,
in each case to an extent which is material in
the context of the Wider Bidco Group taken as a whole;
No
discovery of certain matters regarding information, liabilities and
environmental issues
(l)
except as Disclosed, Bidco not having discovered:
(i)
that any financial, business or other information concerning the
Wider Learning Technologies Group is misleading, contains a
misrepresentation of any fact, or omits to state a fact necessary
to make that information not misleading and which was not
subsequently corrected prior to the date of this Announcement by
disclosure either publicly or otherwise to Bidco or its
professional advisers;
(ii)
that any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group or any
partnership, company or other entity in which any member of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group has a significant economic
interest and which is not a subsidiary undertaking of LTG is
subject to any liability, contingent or otherwise;
(iii)
any information which affects the import of any information
disclosed at any time by or on behalf of any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group;
(iv)
that any past or present member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group has not complied with any and/or all applicable legislation,
regulations or other requirements of any jurisdiction or any
Authorisations relating to the use, treatment, handling, storage,
carriage, disposal, discharge, spillage, release, leak or emission
of any waste or hazardous substance or any substance likely to
impair the environment (including property) or harm human or animal
health or otherwise relating to environmental matters or the health
and safety of humans, which non-compliance would be likely to give
rise to any liability including any penalty for non-compliance
(whether actual or contingent) or cost on the part of any member of
the Wider Learning Technologies Group;
(v)
that there has been a disposal, discharge, spillage, accumulation,
release, leak, emission or the migration, production, supply,
treatment, storage, transport or use of any waste or hazardous
substance or any substance likely to impair the environment
(including any property) or harm to human or animal health which
(whether or not giving rise to non-compliance with any law or
regulation or other requirements of any jurisdiction or any
Authorisations, and wherever the same may have taken place), would
be likely to give rise to any liability (whether actual or
contingent) on the part of any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group;
(vi)
that there is or is likely to be, for any reason whatsoever, any
obligation or liability (whether actual or contingent) or
requirement to make good, remediate, repair, reinstate or clean up
any property, asset or any controlled waters currently or
previously owned, occupied, operated or made use of or controlled
by any past or present member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group (or on its behalf), or by any person for which a member of
the Wider Learning Technologies Group is or has been responsible,
or in which any such member may have or previously have had or be
deemed to have had an interest, under any environmental
legislation, common law, regulation, notice, circular,
Authorisation or order of any Third Party in any jurisdiction or to
contribute to the cost thereof or associated therewith or indemnify
any person in relation thereto;
(vii) that
circumstances exist (whether as a result of the Acquisition or
otherwise) which would be likely to lead to any Third Party
instituting (or whereby any member of the Wider Bidco Group or any
present or past member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group
would be likely to be required to institute), an environmental
audit or take any steps which would in any such case be likely to
result in any actual or contingent liability to improve, modify
existing or install new plant, machinery or equipment or carry out
changes in the processes currently carried out or to make good,
remediate, repair, reinstate or clean up any property of any
description or any asset currently or previously owned, occupied or
made use of by any past or present member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group (or on its behalf) or by any person for which a
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is or has been
responsible, or in which any such member may have or previously
have had or be deemed to have had an interest; or
(viii)
circumstances exist whereby a person or class of persons would be
likely to have any claim or claims in respect of any product or
process of manufacture or materials used therein currently or
previously manufactured, sold or carried out by any past or present
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group which claim or
claims would be likely, materially and adversely, to affect any
member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group,
in each case to an extent which is material in
the context of the Wider Bidco Group taken as a whole;
Intellectual property
(m)
since 31 December 2023, except as Disclosed, no circumstance having
arisen or event having occurred in relation to any material
intellectual property owned or used by any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group, which would result in:
(i)
any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group losing its
title or right to any intellectual property used in its
business;
(ii)
any intellectual property owned by any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group being abandoned, revoked, cancelled or declared
invalid;
(iii)
any claim being asserted in writing or threatened in writing by any
person challenging the ownership by any member of the Wider
Learning Technologies Group of, or the subsistence, registrability,
revocability, validity or effectiveness of, any intellectual
property;
(iv)
any claim by or against any member of the Wider Learning
Technologies Group regarding infringement of intellectual property;
or
(v)
any agreement regarding the use of any intellectual property
licensed to or by any member of the Wider Learning Technologies
Group of the Wider Learning Technologies Group being terminated or
varied;
Anti-corruption, sanctions and criminal
property
(n)
except as Disclosed, Bidco not having discovered that:
(i)
any past or present member, director, officer or employee of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group is or has at any time engaged in
any activity, practice or conduct which would constitute an offence
under the Bribery Act 2010, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
of 1977 or any other applicable anti-corruption or anti-bribery
law, rule or regulation or any other applicable law, rule, or
regulation concerning improper payments or kickbacks; or
(ii)
any person that performs or has performed services for or on behalf
of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is or has at any time
engaged in any activity, practice or conduct in connection with the
performance of such services which would constitute an offence
under the Bribery Act 2010, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
of 1977 or any other applicable anti-corruption or anti-bribery
law, rule or regulation or any other applicable law, rule, or
regulation concerning improper payments or kickbacks;
(o)
any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is ineligible
to be awarded any contract or business under regulation 57 of the
Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended from time to
time);
(p)
any asset of any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group
constitutes criminal property as defined by section 340(3) of the
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (but disregarding paragraph (b) of that
definition) or proceeds of crime under any other applicable law,
rule, or regulation concerning money laundering or proceeds of
crime or any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is
found to have engaged in activities constituting money laundering
under any applicable law, rule, or regulation concerning money
laundering;
(q)
any past or present member, director, officer or employee of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group, or any other person for whom any
such person may be liable or responsible, is or has engaged in any
conduct which would violate applicable economic sanctions or dealt
with, made any investments in, made any funds or assets available
to or received any funds or assets from:
(i)
any government, entity or individual in respect of which U.S., UK
or European Union persons, or persons operating in those
territories, are prohibited from engaging in activities or doing
business, or from receiving or making available funds or economic
resources, by U.S., UK or European Union laws or regulations,
including the economic sanctions administered by the United States
Office of Foreign Assets Control, or HM Treasury & Customs;
or
(ii)
any government, entity or individual targeted by any of the
economic sanctions of the United Nations, the United States, the
United Kingdom, the European Union or any of its member states,
save that this shall not apply if and to the extent that it is or
would be unenforceable by reason of breach of any applicable
Blocking Law;
(r)
any past or present member, director, officer or employee of the
Wider Learning Technologies Group, or any other person for whom any
such person may be liable or responsible:
(i)
has engaged in conduct which would violate any relevant
anti-terrorism laws, rules, or regulations, including but not
limited to the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act;
(ii)
has engaged in conduct which would violate any relevant
anti-boycott law, rule, or regulation or any applicable export
controls, including but not limited to the Export Administration
Regulations administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of
Commerce or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations
administered and enforced by the U.S. Department of
State;
(iii)
has engaged in conduct which would violate any relevant laws,
rules, or regulations concerning human rights, including but not
limited to any law, rule, or regulation concerning false
imprisonment, torture or other cruel and unusual punishment, or
child labour; or
(iv) is
debarred or otherwise rendered ineligible to bid for or to perform
contracts for or with any government, governmental instrumentality,
or international organisation or found to have violated any
applicable law, rule, or regulation concerning government
contracting or public procurement; or
(s)
any member of the Wider Learning Technologies Group is or has been
engaged in any transaction which would cause Bidco to be in breach
of any law or regulation upon its acquisition of LTG, including but
not limited to the economic sanctions of the United States Office
of Foreign Assets Control, or HM Treasury & Customs, or any
other relevant government authority.
PART B:
CERTAIN FURTHER TERMS OF THE ACQUISITION
1.
Subject to the requirements of the Panel, Bidco reserves the
right, in its sole discretion, to waive, in whole or in part, all
or any of the Conditions set out in Part A of Appendix I, except
Conditions 2(a)(i),
2(b)(i), and 2(c)(i),
which cannot be waived. The deadlines in any of Conditions
2(a)(ii), 2(b)(ii)
or 2(c)(ii) may be extended to such later
date as may be agreed in writing by Bidco and LTG (with the consent
of the Panel and the approval of the Court, in each case if
required). If any of Conditions 1,
2(a)(ii), 2(b)(ii),
and 2(c)(ii) are not satisfied by the
relevant deadline specified in the relevant Condition, Bidco shall
make an announcement by 8.00 a.m. (London time) on the Business Day
following such deadline confirming whether it has invoked the
relevant Condition, waived the relevant deadline, or agreed with
LTG to extend the relevant deadline.
2.
Bidco shall be under no obligation to waive (if capable of
waiver), to determine to be or remain satisfied or to treat as
fulfilled any of the Conditions in Part A of Appendix I that are
capable of waiver by a date earlier than the latest date for the
fulfilment of the relevant Condition, notwithstanding that the
other Conditions to the Acquisition may at such earlier date have
been waived or fulfilled and that there are at such earlier date no
circumstances indicating that any of such Conditions may not be
capable of fulfilment.
3.
If the Panel requires Bidco to make an offer for LTG Shares
under the provisions of Rule 9 of the Code, Bidco may make such
alterations to any of the above Conditions and terms of the
Acquisition as are necessary to comply with the provisions of that
Rule.
4.
Any Condition that is subject to Rule 13.5(a) of the Code may
be waived by Bidco.
5.
Under Rule 13.5(a) of the Code and subject to
paragraph 6, Bidco may only invoke a
Condition so as to cause the Acquisition not to proceed, to lapse,
or to be withdrawn with the consent of the Panel. The Panel will
normally only give its consent if the circumstances which give rise
to the right to invoke the Condition are of material significance
to Bidco in the context of the Acquisition. This shall be judged by
reference to the facts of each case at the time that the relevant
circumstances arise.
6.
Condition 1 (subject to Rule 12 of the Code), Conditions
2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) in Part A of Appendix I, and, if applicable,
any acceptance condition if the Acquisition is implemented by way
of an Offer, are not subject to Rule 13.5(a) of the
Code.
7.
The LTG Shares will be acquired pursuant to the Acquisition
fully paid and free from all liens, equities, charges,
encumbrances, options, rights of pre-emption and any other third
party rights and interests of any nature and together with all
rights now or hereafter attaching or accruing thereto, including,
without limitation, voting rights and the right to receive and
retain in full all dividends, distributions and/or other return of
capital or value authorised, declared, made, paid or becomes
payable with a record date in respect of the LTG Shares on or after
the Effective Date.
8.
If, on or after the date of this Announcement and before the
Effective Date, any dividend, distribution and/or other return of
capital or value is authorised, declared, made, paid or becomes
payable in respect of the LTG Shares, Bidco reserves the right
(without prejudice to any right of Bidco to invoke Condition
3(j)(ii) of Part A of Appendix I with the
consent of the Panel) to reduce the consideration payable under the
terms of the Cash Offer (and, as the case may be, the number of
Rollover Securities due under the terms of the Alternative Offers,
assuming that the value of the Rollover Securities to be issued
under the Alternative Offers for each LTG Share is equal to the
consideration payable under the Cash Offer) by an amount up to the
amount of such dividend, distribution and/or other return of
capital or value. In these circumstances, the relevant eligible LTG
Shareholders will be entitled to receive and retain such dividend,
distribution and/or return of capital or value that is authorised,
declared, made, paid or becomes payable, and any reference in this
Announcement to the consideration payable under the Cash Offer (or
consideration due under the Alternative Offers) will be deemed to
be a reference to the consideration as so reduced.
If and to the extent any such dividend,
distribution and/or other return of capital or value has been
authorised, declared or announced, but not made or paid, or is not
payable in respect of the LTG Shares before the Effective Date and
is or will be: (i) transferred pursuant to the Acquisition on a
basis which entitles Bidco to receive the dividend, distribution
and/or other return of capital or value and to retain it; or (ii)
cancelled before payment, the consideration payable under the Cash
Offer (or consideration due under the Alternative Offers) shall not
be subject to change in accordance with this paragraph
8.
Any exercise by Bidco of its rights referred to
in this paragraph 8 shall be the subject of an announcement and,
for the avoidance of doubt, shall not be regarded as constituting
any revision or variation of the terms of the Scheme.
9.
Any fractional entitlements of each LTG Shareholder who has
validly elected for Rollover Securities under an Alternative Offer
in respect of their LTG Shares will be rounded down, in each case
to the nearest whole number of Rollover Ordinary Shares and B
Preference Shares (as applicable) per LTG Shareholder. Fractional
entitlements to the Rollover Securities will not be allotted or
issued to such LTG Shareholder but will be disregarded.
10.
Bidco reserves the right to elect to implement the
Acquisition by way of an Offer as an alternative to the Scheme
(subject to the consent of the Panel, where necessary, and the
terms of the Co-operation Agreement). In such event, the Offer will
be implemented on substantially the same terms and conditions, so
far as applicable, as those which would apply to the Scheme,
subject to appropriate amendments, including (without limitation
and subject to the terms of the Co-operation Agreement) an
acceptance condition set at 75 per cent. (or such lesser percentage
as Bidco may decide in accordance with the terms of the
Co-operation Agreement or as required by the Panel, being in any
case more than 50 per cent.) of LTG Shares to which the Offer
relates. If the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, and
such Offer becomes or is declared unconditional and sufficient
acceptances are received, Bidco intends to: (i) make a request to
the London Stock Exchange to cancel the admission to trading of LTG
Shares on AIM; and (ii) exercise its rights to apply the provisions
of Chapter 3 of Part 28 of the Companies Act so as to acquire
compulsorily the remaining LTG Shares in respect of which the Offer
has not been accepted.
11.
The Acquisition will be subject, inter alia, to the Conditions and
certain further terms which are set out in this Appendix I and to
the full terms which will be set out in the Scheme Document and
such further terms as may be required to comply with the applicable
rules and/or requirements of the Code, the Panel, the AIM Rules,
the London Stock Exchange and the FCA.
12.
The availability of the Acquisition to persons not resident
in the United Kingdom may be affected by the laws of the relevant
jurisdictions in which they are resident. Persons who are not
resident in the United Kingdom should inform themselves of, and
observe, any applicable legal and regulatory requirements. The
Rollover Securities have not been, and will not be, registered
under the U.S. Securities Act or applicable state securities laws.
Accordingly, the Rollover Securities may not be offered, sold,
resold, taken up, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly,
in the United States absent registration or an available exemption
or a transaction not subject to the registration requirements of
the U.S. Securities Act. Accordingly, the Rollover Securities will
not be issued to LTG Shareholders unless Bidco determines that they
may be issued pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction
that is not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S.
Securities Act as provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S.
Securities Act or another available exemption.
13.
The Acquisition is not being made, directly or indirectly,
in, into or from, or by use of the mails of, or by any means of
instrumentality (including, but not limited to, facsimile, e-mail
or other electronic transmission, telex or telephone) of interstate
or foreign commerce of, or of any facility of a national, state or
other securities exchange of, any jurisdiction where to do so would
violate the laws of that jurisdiction.
14.
This Announcement and any right or liability hereunder, the
Acquisition and the Scheme are (or will be, as applicable) governed
by the laws of England and subject to the jurisdiction of the Court
and to the Conditions and further terms set out in Appendix I and
the full terms and conditions to be set out in the Scheme Document.
The Acquisition is subject to the applicable rules and/or
requirements of the Code, the Panel, the AIM Rules, the London
Stock Exchange and the FCA.
15.
Each of the Conditions shall be regarded as a separate
Condition and shall not be limited by reference to any other
Condition.
Part II
APPENDIX II
SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND BASES OF
CALCULATION
1.
As at 3 December 2024 (being the last Business Day before the
date of this Announcement) the fully diluted issued ordinary share
capital of 802,417,913 LTG Shares is based on:
·
792,167,233 LTG Shares in issue (International Securities
Identification Number GB00B4T7HX10); plus
·
179,340 LTG Shares held by the employee benefit trust
operated by LTG that can be used to satisfy the exercise of options
and vesting awards pursuant to LTG Share Plans; plus
·
10,071,340 LTG Shares which may be issued on or after the
date of this Announcement to satisfy the exercise of options or
vesting awards pursuant to the LTG Share Plans (net of LTG Shares
to be satisfied by those held in the employee benefit
trust).
2.
The fully diluted share capital assumes that the Acquisition
becomes Effective on the Long-Stop Date and that certain
performance based criteria under the LTG Share Plans which are
determined by reference to the value of the Cash Offer are not met.
It also assumes that where certain share save plans are in a
currency other than sterling an FX rate as at the date immediately
prior to the date of this Announcement has been applied to
calculate the number of shares which may be issued.
3.
The value of the Acquisition based on the Cash Offer of 100
pence per LTG Share is calculated on the basis of the issued and to
be issued share capital of LTG (as set out in paragraph
1).
4.
The 2023 Adjusted EBIT of £88.7 million has been calculated
as:
·
Reported 2023 Adjusted EBIT of £98.5 million; less
·
£4.2 million reflecting impact of disposal of non-core assets
(Lorien Engineering Solutions and TTi Global); less
·
£5.7 million reflecting the impact of disposal of
VectorVMS.
5.
The enterprise value of £836.3 million has been calculated
as:
·
the cash value of the Acquisition (as set out in
paragraph 3) of £802.4 million;
plus
·
£136.0 million of borrowings as of 30 June 2024;
plus
·
£8.8 million of value of leases as of 30 June 2024;
less
·
£78.5m of cash and cash equivalents as of 30 June 2024;
less
·
£5.3 million of estimated cash inflow from the exercise of
options or vesting of awards pursuant to the LTG Share Plans net of
the associated employer tax liabilities (as set out in paragraph
1); less
·
£27.1 million of cash proceeds from the sale of VectorVMS
(net of £9.9 million of estimated tax leakages and net of £2.5
million of associated transaction fees).
6.
The Closing Prices on 26 September 2024 are taken from the
AIM appendix to the Daily Official List.
7.
Unless otherwise stated, the financial information relating
to LTG is extracted from the interim six month report and accounts
of LTG for the half year ending 30 June 2024, and the audited
consolidated financial statements contained therein have been
prepared in compliance with United Kingdom accounting standards,
including IFRS and the Companies Act.
8.
The volume-weighted average prices have been derived from
Bloomberg data based on volumes traded from 27 August 2024 (for one
month), 27 June 2024 (for three months) and 24 July 2024 (since the
announcement of LTG's trading update in respect of the six months
ended 30 June 2024) and have been rounded to the nearest whole
number.
9.
The total shareholder return CAGR for the period from LTG's
IPO in 2013 to 26 September 2024 (being the last Business Day prior
to the announcement of a possible offer for LTG by General
Atlantic, as referenced in the section entitled "Background to and
reasons for the Recommendation" of this Announcement) has been
calculated based on the LTG share price of 5.882353 pence (as
reported in the circular convening a general meeting and AIM
admission document published on 22 October 2013) and LTG's Closing
Price on 26 September 2024. The total shareholder return CAGR
calculation uses 22 October 2013 as a starting date and includes
any dividends to LTG Shareholders over the relevant
period.
APPENDIX III
IRREVOCABLE
UNDERTAKINGS
1.
LTG Directors' irrevocable undertakings
The following LTG Directors who hold or are
beneficially entitled to LTG Shares have each given an irrevocable
undertaking to vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at
the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in
the event that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer,
to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer) in respect of all of
their (and their connected persons') own beneficial holdings of LTG
Shares (or those LTG Shares over which they have
control):
Name of LTG Director
|
Number of LTG Shares in respect of which
undertaking is given
|
Percentage of LTG issued share capital
(excluding shares under option)
|
Andrew
Brode
|
117,098,930
|
14.78%
|
Jonathan
Satchell1
|
72,963,160
|
9.21%
|
Piers
Lea2
|
8,546,697
|
1.08%
|
Leslie-Ann
Reed
|
5,220,422
|
0.66%
|
Katharina
Kearney-Croft3
|
114,828
|
0.01%
|
Aimie
Chapple
|
15,200
|
0.00%
|
TOTAL
|
203,959,237
|
25.74%
|
________________________
1 Includes 5,900,000 LTG Shares owned by the
trustees of The Satchell Trust as the registered and beneficial
holder.
2
Includes
2,000,000 LTG Shares owned by the trustees of the Piers Lea
Children's Trust Discretionary Settlement as the registered
holder.
3 Includes 18,046 LTG Shares owned by the daughter
of Katharina Kearny-Croft as the registered and/or beneficial
holder.
In addition:
·
Andrew Brode, Chairman of LTG and a Non-Independent LTG
Director, has irrevocably undertaken to elect to receive
Alternative Offer 1 in respect of his entire beneficial holding of
LTG Shares, being 117,098,930 LTG Shares (representing
approximately 14.78 per cent. of the existing issued ordinary share
capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last Business Day
before the date of this Announcement);
·
Jonathan Satchell, Chief Executive Officer of LTG and a
Non-Independent LTG Director, has irrevocably undertaken to elect
to receive: (i) the Cash Offer in respect of 2,800,000 of his LTG
Shares (representing approximately 0.35 per cent. of the existing
issued ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the
last Business Day before the date of this Announcement); and (ii)
an Alternative Offer in respect of 70,163,160 of his LTG Shares
(representing approximately 8.86 per cent. of the existing issued
ordinary share capital of LTG on 3 December 2024, being the last
Business Day before the date of this Announcement); and
·
the Independent LTG Directors have not entered into any
irrevocable undertakings to elect for an Alternative
Offer.
Simon Boddie, Senior Independent Director of
LTG (and an Independent LTG Director), is not interested in any LTG
Shares and has therefore not entered into an irrevocable
undertaking in connection with the Acquisition.
Summary of the LTG Directors'
irrevocable undertakings
The irrevocable undertakings given by the LTG
Directors prevent such LTG Directors from selling all or any part
of their LTG Shares.
The irrevocable undertakings to vote (or procure
voting) in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the
Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in the event that the
Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, to accept or procure
acceptance of such Offer) also extend to any LTG Shares acquired by
the LTG Directors as a result of the vesting of awards or the
exercise of options under the LTG Share Plans.
The irrevocable undertakings from the LTG
Directors will remain binding in the event a higher competing offer
is made for LTG and prevent the LTG Directors from voting in favour
of any other scheme of arrangement (or accepting any other takeover
offer).
The obligations of the LTG Directors under the
irrevocable undertakings will lapse and cease to have effect on and
from the following occurrences:
·
the date the Scheme becomes Effective or the Offer is
declared unconditional;
·
this Announcement is not released by 12.00 p.m. (London time)
on the Business Day immediately following the date of the
irrevocable undertaking (or such later time and/or date as Bidco
and LTG may agree);
·
following the release of the Announcement, Bidco announces,
with the consent of the Panel, that it does not intend to make or
proceed with the Acquisition and no new, revised or replacement
takeover offer (within the meaning of section 974 of the Companies
Act) or scheme of arrangement (pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies
Act) is announced by Bidco (or any person acting in concert with
it) in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code within ten Business
Days;
·
the Scheme lapses or is withdrawn in accordance with its
terms (or having announced its election to implement the
Acquisition by way of an Offer, that Offer is subsequently
withdrawn or lapses in accordance with its terms), provided that
this shall not apply where such withdrawal or lapse:
·
is a result of Bidco exercising its right, in accordance with
the Code, to elect to implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer
rather than by way of a Scheme or vice versa; or
·
is followed within ten Business Days by a new, revised or
replacement takeover offer (within the meaning of section 974 of
the Companies Act) or scheme of arrangement (pursuant to Part 26 of
the Companies Act) announced by Bidco or General Atlantic (or any
person acting in concert with Bidco and/or General Atlantic) in
accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code; or
·
any competing offer for the entire issued and to be issued
share capital of LTG is made which becomes or is declared wholly
unconditional (if implemented by way of a takeover offer (within
the meaning of section 974 of the Companies Act)) or otherwise
becomes effective (if implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement
(pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act)).
In addition to the above, the irrevocable
undertakings of Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell, each a
Non-Independent LTG Director:
·
contain undertakings to:
·
elect to receive an Alternative Offer in respect of all or
substantially all of their holdings of LTG Shares, as further
described above; and
·
provide in a timely fashion, and in any event in reasonable
time before any applicable deadline or due date, all such
information relating to themselves, their participation in either
Alternative Offer and their expected acquisition of Rollover
Securities in connection with the Acquisition, and all such other
assistance, as may reasonably be necessary or required: (i) for
Bidco to determine in which jurisdictions any merger control,
regulatory or other filing, notification or submission with a
Relevant Authority may be necessary, reasonably advisable or
expedient for the purposes of obtaining any Clearances; (ii) for
inclusion in any filings, notifications or submissions (including
draft versions) to any Relevant Authority for the purposes of
obtaining the Clearances or for inclusion in any responses to any
requests for further information by any Relevant Authority in
connection with such filings, notifications or submissions; and
(iii) for the purposes of obtaining the Clearances and/or any other
required official authorisations, including assistance in
connection with such pre-notification contacts with the Relevant
Authorities as Bidco (acting reasonably) considers to be required,
desirable or appropriate in the circumstances; and
·
will lapse and cease to have effect in the event that the
terms of the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and/or the Topco
Articles as published on LTG's website on or after the date of the
irrevocable undertaking is amended or varied in any material
respect, unless Andrew Brode or Jonathan Satchell (as applicable)
has given prior written consent to such amendment or
variation.
2.
Non-director LTG Shareholder irrevocable undertakings
In addition to the LTG Directors, Monique
Vasconcelos and Richard Griffiths have each given an irrevocable
undertaking to vote (or procure voting) in favour of the Scheme at
the Court Meeting and the Resolution at the General Meeting (or, in
the event that the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer,
to accept or procure acceptance of such Offer):
Name of LTG Shareholder giving
undertaking
|
Number of LTG Shares in respect of which
undertaking is given
|
Percentage of LTG issued share
capital
|
Monique Vasconcelos
|
13,932,059
|
1.76
|
Richard Griffiths
|
2,125,595
|
0.27
|
TOTAL
|
16,057,654
|
2.03
|
Summary of non-director LTG Shareholder
irrevocable undertakings
The irrevocable undertakings given by Monique
Vasconcelos and Richard Griffiths prevent Monique Vasconcelos and
Richard Griffiths from selling all or any part of their LTG Shares
and restrict Monique Vasconcelos from acquiring further LTG
Shares.
The obligations of each of Monique Vasconcelos
and Richard Griffiths under the irrevocable undertakings given by
each of them will lapse and cease to have effect on and from the
following occurrences:
·
the date the Scheme becomes Effective or the Offer is
declared unconditional;
·
this Announcement is not released by 12.00 p.m. (London time)
on the Business Day immediately following the date of the
irrevocable undertaking (or such later time and/or date as Bidco
and LTG may agree);
·
following the release of the Announcement, Bidco announces,
with the consent of the Panel, that it does not intend to make or
proceed with the Acquisition and no new, revised or replacement
takeover offer (within the meaning of section 974 of the Companies
Act) or scheme of arrangement (pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies
Act) is announced by Bidco (or any person acting in concert with
it) in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code within ten Business
Days;
·
the Scheme lapses or is withdrawn in accordance with its
terms (or having announced its election to implement the
Acquisition by way of an Offer, that Offer is subsequently
withdrawn or lapses in accordance with its terms), provided that
this shall not apply where such withdrawal or lapse:
·
is a result of Bidco exercising its right, in accordance with
the Code, to elect to implement the Acquisition by way of an Offer
rather than by way of a Scheme or vice versa; or
·
is followed within ten Business Days by a new, revised or
replacement takeover offer (within the meaning of section 974 of
the Companies Act) or scheme of arrangement (pursuant to Part 26 of
the Companies Act) announced by Bidco or General Atlantic (or any
person acting in concert with Bidco and/or General Atlantic) in
accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code; or
·
any competing offer for the entire issued and to be issued
share capital of LTG is made which becomes or is declared wholly
unconditional (if implemented by way of a takeover offer (within
the meaning of section 974 of the Companies Act)) or otherwise
becomes effective (if implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement
(pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act)).
In addition:
·
in respect of the irrevocable undertaking given by Monique
Vasconcelos, such irrevocable undertaking will remain binding in
the event a higher competing offer is made for LTG; and
·
in respect of the irrevocable undertaking given by Richard
Griffiths, such irrevocable undertaking will lapse and cease to be
binding if a Higher Competing Offer (as defined under the deed of
irrevocable undertaking given by Richard Griffiths) is announced in
accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code and Bidco (or any person
acting in concert with Bidco) does not, within 14 days of the
announcement of the Higher Competing Offer (or, if later, the date
on which an estimate is provided by an appropriate adviser of the
value of any securities not admitted to trading and which form part
of the consideration being offered pursuant to such Higher
Competing Offer), increase the consideration offered under the
Acquisition to an amount per LTG Share which is equal to or exceeds
the value of the Higher Competing Offer (in the case of any such
revised proposal made by Bidco (or any person acting in concert
with Bidco) that involves the issue of securities of a class which
is not admitted to trading, the value of such securities will be
the estimate of the value of such securities by an appropriate
adviser contained in the relevant offer document or announcement
under Rule 2.7 of the Code, as required under Rule 24.11 of the
Code).
APPENDIX IV
DETAILS OF THE TOPCO GROUP, ROLLOVER MECHANISM, TOPCO SHARE CAPITAL
AND THE ROLLOVER SECURITIES
1.
The Rollover Securities
For eligible LTG Shareholders who validly elect
to receive consideration by means of an Alternative Offer, the
applicable Rollover Securities in respect of their LTG Shares will
be issued in accordance with the Rollover Mechanism described in
paragraph 3 of this Appendix
IV.
2.
Information on Topco, the Intermediate Midcos and Bidco
Prior to the Effective Date, Topco will be a
subsidiary of General Atlantic. Topco is a private limited company
incorporated on 12 November 2024 under the laws of Jersey for the
purposes of the Acquisition. Topco's issued share capital comprises
10,000 ordinary shares of £1.00 each, but will be reorganised on or
prior to the Effective Date so that it comprises A1 Preference
Shares, A2 Preference Shares, B Preference Shares and Ordinary
Shares. The A Preference Shares and Ordinary Shares will be issued
to and held by General Atlantic, and the Rollover Securities
(comprising Rollover Ordinary Shares and, where applicable, B
Preference Shares) will be issued to and held by the eligible LTG
Shareholders who validly elect for an Alternative Offer. General
Atlantic will also be issued the Warrants.
Midco 1 is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of
Topco. Midco 1 is a private limited company incorporated on 12
November 2024 under the laws of England and Wales for the purposes
of the Acquisition. The share capital of Midco 1 comprises one
ordinary share of £1.00.
Midco 2 is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of
Midco 1 and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Topco. Midco 2
is a private limited company incorporated on 12 November 2024 under
the laws of England and Wales for the purposes of the Acquisition.
The share capital of Midco 2 comprises one ordinary share of
£1.00.
Midco 3 is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of
Midco 2 and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Topco. Midco 3
is a private limited company incorporated on 13 November 2024 under
the laws of England and Wales for the purposes of the Acquisition.
The share capital of Midco 3 comprises one ordinary share of
£1.00.
Bidco is a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of
Midco 3 and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Topco. Bidco is
a private limited company incorporated on 13 November 2024 under
the laws of England and Wales for the purposes of the Acquisition.
The share capital of Bidco comprises one ordinary share of
£1.00.
None of Topco, the Intermediate Midcos or Bidco
have traded since the date of their incorporation nor entered into
any obligations, other than in connection with the Acquisition.
Between the date of this Announcement and the Effective Date, no
member of the Topco Group is expected to conduct any business or
activities other than in connection with the Acquisition. Neither
Topco, the Intermediate Midcos or Bidco hold any direct or indirect
interest in LTG as at the date of this Announcement.
3.
The Rollover Mechanism
If the Scheme becomes Effective, eligible LTG
Shareholders that validly elect to receive consideration by means
of an Alternative Offer will receive their Rollover Securities in
Topco, whereby on or shortly following the Effective Date (the
"Rollover
Mechanism"):
·
step
one: firstly, the relevant LTG Shares of the
relevant LTG Shareholders will be exchanged for loan notes of a
commensurate value to be issued by Bidco pursuant to the Scheme
(the "Bidco Rollover
Securities");
·
step
two: secondly, and immediately following the
first exchange, the Bidco Rollover Securities will be exchanged for
loan notes of a commensurate value to be issued by Midco 3 (the
"Midco 3 Rollover
Securities");
·
step
three: thirdly, and immediately following the
second exchange, the Midco 3 Rollover Securities will be exchanged
for loan notes of a commensurate value to be issued by Midco 2 (the
"Midco 2 Rollover
Securities");
·
step
four: fourthly, and immediately following the
third exchange, the Midco 2 Rollover Securities will be exchanged
for loan notes of a commensurate value to be issued by Midco 1 (the
"Midco 1 Rollover
Securities"); and
·
step
five: finally, and immediately following the
fourth exchange, the Midco 1 Rollover Securities will be exchanged
for:
·
the issue and allotment, credited as fully paid, of the
relevant number of Rollover Ordinary Shares; and
·
the issue and allotment, credited as fully paid, of the
relevant number of B Preference Shares,
in Topco to which the relevant LTG Shareholder
who has made a valid election in respect of an Alternative Offer is
entitled, in accordance with the terms of the relevant Alternative
Offer,
provided that each of the second step, the third
step, the fourth step and the fifth step will be subject to and
conditional on the exercise of a put option by the relevant
transferor, or a call option by the relevant transferee, in
relation to the loan notes and securities to be
exchanged.
LTG Shareholders who validly elect for an
Alternative Offer will be required, pursuant to a power of attorney
granted by them pursuant to the Scheme (and/or under the Form(s) of
Election), to adhere to the Topco Shareholders' Agreement as a
condition of such election. The power of attorney will also provide
for the signing on behalf of such LTG Shareholder (in such form as
Bidco may require) of the put and call deeds and/or any exchange
agreement, transfer, instrument, or other document deemed by Bidco
(in its absolute discretion) to be necessary or desirable to effect
the implementation of the Alternative Offers or the Rollover
Mechanism, as conditions of such election, including any
appropriate employment tax elections.
4.
Summary of the securities in Topco and associated instruments upon
the Acquisition becoming Effective
Set out below is a summary of the securities and
associated instruments in Topco to be held by General Atlantic and
Rollover Investors who make a valid election for an Alternative
Offer, in each case from the Effective Date.
Ordinary Shares
The Ordinary Shares are denominated in U.S.
dollars. The Ordinary Shares will not be listed and will be subject
to the terms and conditions of the Topco Articles and Topco
Shareholders' Agreement, as described in further detail in
paragraph 5 of this Appendix
IV.
General
Atlantic
General Atlantic will subscribe for Ordinary
Shares at a U.S. dollar issue price[6] per
Ordinary Share that is equivalent to the price of 100 pence per LTG
Share in respect of the Cash Offer. The Ordinary Shares subscribed
for by General Atlantic will be allotted and issued and credited as
fully paid.
Given possible future share option exercises in
respect of LTG Share Plans and foreign exchange fluctuations, it is
not possible to determine exactly how many Ordinary Shares General
Atlantic will subscribe for until on or following the Effective
Date. Accordingly, it is not possible to determine the precise
percentage of the Ordinary Shares that will be held by General
Atlantic and the precise percentage will be held by any LTG
Shareholders who validly elect for an Alternative Offer. General
Atlantic will hold the majority of the total equity share capital
of Topco in connection with the Acquisition, however it is
anticipated that General Atlantic will, upon the Acquisition
becoming Effective, hold a minority of the Ordinary Shares (and
therefore a minority of the voting rights in Topco).
Rollover
Investors
Ordinary Shares will be allotted and issued to
eligible LTG Shareholders who validly elect for a relevant
Alternative Offer in accordance with the Rollover Mechanism and
will be allotted and issued and credited as fully paid.
They will be the same class of security and will
rank economically pari
passu with the Ordinary Shares held by and issued to General
Atlantic in connection with the Acquisition (as described above),
including with respect to voting (subject to the terms of the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement) as well as the right to receive and retain
any dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid or
which become payable.
A
Preference Shares
A1 Preference
Shares
The A1 Preference Shares are denominated in U.S.
dollars. The A1 Preference Shares subscribed for by General
Atlantic will be allotted and issued and credited as fully paid.
The A1 Preference Shares will not be listed and will be subject to
the terms and conditions of the Topco Articles and Topco
Shareholders' Agreement, as described in further detail in
paragraph 5 of this Appendix
IV.
It is intended that General Atlantic will
subscribe for A1 Preference Shares in a maximum amount of up
to a U.S. dollar equivalent of £228.4 million in
connection with the funding of the Acquisition at a U.S. dollar
issue price per A1 Preference Share that is equal to the issue
price of a B Preference Share (as described below).
General Atlantic's subscription of A1 Preference
Shares in connection with the funding of the Acquisition will be
reduced from the maximum amount described above if and to the
extent that B Preference Shares are issued in connection with valid
elections from LTG Shareholders for Alternative Offer 2, in such
number as is commensurate with the aggregate number of B Preference
Shares issued.
General Atlantic's total subscription for A1
Preference Shares in connection with the funding of the Acquisition
is therefore dependent upon the number of B Preference Shares to be
issued and, as a result, it is not possible to determine how many
A1 Preference Shares will be issued to General Atlantic as at the
date of this Announcement. However, the A1 Preference Shares held
by General Atlantic will, upon the Acquisition becoming Effective,
represent a majority of all Preference Shares.
A2 Preference
Shares
The A2 Preference Shares are denominated in U.S.
dollars. The A2 Preference Shares subscribed for by General
Atlantic will be allotted and issued and credited as fully paid.
The A2 Preference Shares will not be listed and will be subject to
the terms and conditions of the Topco Articles and Topco
Shareholders' Agreement, as described in further detail in
paragraph 5 of this Appendix
IV.
In connection with the Upfront Discount (as
described in further detail in paragraph 5
of this Appendix IV), General Atlantic will subscribe for
certain A2 Preference Shares (the Upfront Discount A2 Preference
Shares) for an aggregate subscription price equal to the Upfront
Discount Amount.
B
Preference Shares
The B Preference Shares are denominated in U.S.
dollars. The B Preference Shares allotted and issued to eligible
LTG Shareholders who validly elect for Alternative Offer 2 will be
allotted and issued and credited as fully paid. The B Preference
Shares will not be listed and will be subject to the terms and
conditions of the Topco Articles and Topco Shareholders' Agreement,
as described in further detail in paragraph 5
of this Appendix IV.
The B Preference Shares to be allotted and
issued to eligible LTG Shareholders who validly elect for
Alternative Offer 2 will, for the purposes of basing amounts
payable in connection with the Preferred Dividend and the
Preference Share Redemption Price on U.S. dollars (consistent with
the currency denomination of the B Preference Shares), be issued at
a U.S. dollar issue price[7] per B
Preference Share that is equivalent to the price of 100 pence per
LTG Share in respect of the Cash Offer. Accordingly, payment of the
Preferred Dividend and the applicable Preference Share Redemption
Price will be made in U.S. dollars.
Pre
Approved Funding
In addition to the Ordinary Shares, A1
Preference Shares and A2 Preference Shares to be subscribed by
General Atlantic in connection with the funding of the Acquisition
as described above, if the Topco Group's available cash is less
than US$38 million as at the Effective Date (such amount below
US$38 million being the "Group
Liquidity Shortfall"), General Atlantic may, with the
approval of the Topco Board, inject further capital into the Group
(via Topco) up to an amount equal to the Group Liquidity Shortfall
by, at General Atlantic's option, either subscribing for additional
Ordinary Shares or additional A1 Preference Shares (together with a
commensurate increase in the total number of A2 Preference Shares
and Warrants (as described below) to be issued to General Atlantic)
("Pre Approved Funding").
Any such subscription would occur at the same per-share price as
the subscriptions by General Atlantic in connection with the
funding of the Acquisition as described above.
By way of illustration, assuming a total
Ordinary Share capital in Topco of an amount equivalent to £207
million immediately following the Effective Date, and Pre Approved
Funding of an amount equivalent to £10 million in the form of
Ordinary Shares, General Atlantic would be subscribing for 4.6 per
cent. of additional Ordinary Shares as a result of such Pre
Approved Funding, with commensurate dilution of all Ordinary
Shareholders' percentage Ordinary Share interests (including
General Atlantic's).
Warrants
On or around the Effective Date, General
Atlantic will, in addition to receiving a certain number of
Ordinary Shares, A1 Preference Shares and A2 Preference Shares as
described above, receive Warrants, exercisable at any time, with a
US$0.001 exercise price per Ordinary Share, entitling General
Atlantic to receive further Ordinary Shares. The
Warrants will not be listed. The Warrants will be subject to the
terms and conditions of the Warrant Instrument.
The precise number of Warrants (and therefore
the entitlement to a further number of Ordinary Shares) received by
General Atlantic will depend on the number of A1 Preference Shares
that are ultimately issued to General Atlantic (which, as noted
above, is itself dependent on the number of B Preference Shares
issued to LTG Shareholders who make a valid election for
Alternative Offer 2, and on any Pre Approved Funding by General
Atlantic).
In connection with the proposed funding of the
consideration payable to LTG Shareholders pursuant to the Cash
Offer, General Atlantic is entitled to be issued such number
of Warrants as is equal to a maximum amount of 12.5 per cent. of
Topco's Ordinary Share capital on a fully diluted basis (calculated
on the basis of including the impact of the Warrants as if they had
all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance
with their terms at the relevant time). The number of Warrants to
be issued to General Atlantic will be reduced from such maximum
amount if and to the extent that B Preference Shares are issued in
connection with valid elections from LTG Shareholders for
Alternative Offer 2 (thereby reducing the number of A1 Preference
Shares to be issued to General Atlantic, as described above), in
such number as is commensurate with the number of B Preference
Shares issued to LTG Shareholders pursuant to Alternative Offer
2.
In addition, General Atlantic will be entitled
to a rateable increase in its number of Warrants (which, for the
avoidance of doubt, may result in General Atlantic receiving a
number of Warrants that exceeds 12.5 per cent. of Topco's Ordinary
Share capital on a fully diluted basis) if it subscribes for
additional A Preference Shares in connection with any Pre Approved
Funding.
Therefore, by way of illustration:
·
if no valid elections for Alternative Offer 2 are received
from LTG Shareholders in connection with the Alternative Offers
(such that no B Preference Shares are issued and no Pre Approved
Funding is provided by way of a Preference Share subscription),
General Atlantic will subscribe for the maximum number of A1
Preference Shares described above and, in addition, would receive
Warrants entitling it to 12.5 per cent. of the Ordinary Share
capital of Topco on a fully diluted basis (calculated on the basis
of including the Warrants as if they had all been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time); and
·
if and to the extent that valid elections for B Preference
Shares are received from LTG Shareholders, General
Atlantic's subscription of A1 Preference Shares will be scaled back
from such maximum amount by the number of B Preference Shares that
are issued in connection with valid elections from LTG Shareholders
for Alternative Offer 2, and in such circumstances General Atlantic
would receive commensurately fewer Warrants.
As a result, the nature of General Atlantic's
ultimate shareholding in Topco will not be known until valid
elections in respect of the Alternative Offers have been received,
which is expected to be shortly prior to the Effective
Date.
5.
Summary of the Rollover Securities and key terms of the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles
Set out below is a summary of the terms of the
Topco Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles which will
govern the terms on which eligible LTG Shareholders that validly
elect for an Alternative Offer will hold securities in Topco
pursuant to the Rollover Mechanism. The full terms and conditions
of the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles are
available on Bidco's website at https://announcements-ga.com/
and LTG's website at https://ltgplc.com/offer-microsite/.
Voting rights and consent
matters
Voting
rights
Every holder of one or more Ordinary Shares
(including Rollover Ordinary Shares) on the date on which either a
written resolution is circulated or a general meeting is held and
who is present at such meeting will, subject to the Topco Articles,
have one vote for each Ordinary Share.
The A Preference Shares and the B Preference
Shares will not entitle the holders thereof to: (i) any votes at
general meetings of Topco (save in respect of rights to vote as a
class of shareholder as required in accordance with applicable
law); (ii) receive a copy of any written resolution of Topco; or
(iii) receive notice of any general meetings of Topco.
Consent
matters - General Atlantic
For so long as General Atlantic holds: (i) at
least one Preference Share; or (ii) at least five per cent. of the
total number of Ordinary Shares in issue at the relevant time on a
fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as if they had all been
exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with
their terms at the relevant time) (the "General Atlantic Minimum
Shareholding"), the following matters will require the prior
consent of General Atlantic:
·
to adopt or approve, materially amend or otherwise materially
alter the annual budget of the Group, and in each case, take any
action materially inconsistent with it;
·
to make or permit any substantial change to, or make any
decision that may result in a substantial change to, the business
conducted by any member of the Topco Group;
·
to borrow any monies or incur, assume, increase or extend any
indebtedness or other liability, or enter into any agreement,
arrangement or debt facilities of any nature, which, in each case,
would result in the Topco Group's total net leverage ratio
exceeding 3.00:1.00;
·
to amend, vary, waive or breach (or exercise any
discretionary right given thereunder) any provision of the Topco
Group's financing documents or transfer or assign any rights or
obligations of a member of the Topco Group under the financing
documents;
·
to acquire an interest in any shares in the capital of any
body corporate, or in any instrument convertible into the share
capital of any body corporate or the acquisition of any other
interest in a company, business, undertaking or concern, including
the acquisition of any share or marketable security which is traded
on a recognised investment exchange or any other public securities
market, or acquire any assets, businesses or undertakings (or any
interest therein) whether by a single transaction or by a series of
transactions (related or not), in each case with a value exceeding
£50,000,000;
·
to enter into or make itself liable for any capital
commitment (whether by way of purchase, lease, hire purchase or
otherwise) or capital expenditure (including capitalised research
and development expenditure) that exceeds 15 per cent. of the
reference EBIT as calculated at the time of such capital commitment
or expenditure;
·
to divest, sell, dispose of and/or transfer, any assets,
businesses or undertakings (or any interest therein) whether by a
single transaction or by a series of transactions (related or not):
(i) where such assets, businesses or undertakings (or any interest
therein) generate such amount of EBIT as represents 10 per cent. or
more of the consolidated EBIT of the Group; or (ii) with a value of
or exceeding £75,000,000;
·
to make any increase or reduction or other alteration
whatsoever (including by way of redemption, purchase, sub-division,
consolidation, redenomination, reorganisation, variation,
conversion or redesignation) of any member of the Topco Group's
share capital or issue or allot any securities or grant any option
to subscribe for or acquire securities (subject to certain
exclusions);
·
to amend or waive any provision of the Topco Articles, the
articles of association of any other member of the Topco Group, the
Topco Shareholders' Agreement or any shareholder or constitutional
arrangements relating to Topco;
·
to vary the rights attaching to any securities in any member
of the Topco Group;
·
to adopt, amend or otherwise vary any management incentive
plan relating to Topco or any member of the Topco Group;
·
to declare or pay any dividend (whether final or interim) or
other distribution by Topco or by any other member of the Topco
Group (other than any Preference Dividend), except where such
member of the Topco Group is a wholly-owned member of the Topco
Group and that dividend or distribution is being paid to another
member of the Topco Group that is directly or indirectly
wholly-owned by Topco;
·
to amend, vary or waive any of the provisions of, or enter
into, breach, enforce or terminate (or give notice to terminate),
any employment arrangements of the Group's Chief Executive Officer,
Chief Financial Officer or Chair, which will include, for the
avoidance of doubt, varying the remuneration or other benefits
provided under such arrangements;
·
to enter into any related party transactions or enter into
any arrangements otherwise than at market value and on an arm's
length basis;
·
to enter into or participate in any discussions with existing
or prospective lenders in connection with any actual or potential
amendment, variation, waiver or breach of any provision of the
financing documents, or any Refinancing;
·
to propose or make any arrangement or compromise with, or
assign for the benefit of, its creditors generally, or enter into
any agreement for or in connection with the scheduling,
restructuring or re-adjustment of any material part of its
indebtedness by reason of, or with a view to, avoiding, financial
difficulties;
·
to take any steps to wind-up, liquidate or dissolve Topco or
any member of the Topco Group;
·
to take any steps to obtain an administration order in
respect of Topco or any other member of the Topco Group or to
invite any person to appoint a receiver or receiver and manager of
the whole or any part of the business or assets of Topco or any
other member of the Topco Group;
·
the completion of any proposed Exit;
·
any reorganisation transaction;
·
to make any change to the tax residency (or create a new
permanent establishment) of any member of the Topco
Group;
·
to make any material change to the tax profile of any member
of the Topco Group (including making any tax elections as regards
the entity classification of a member of the Topco
Group);
·
to make any material change in accounting principles or
policies of any member of the Topco Group; and
·
to make any change in the accounting reference date or
year-end of any member of the Topco Group, save in respect of a
change made to align the accounting reference date of any member of
the Topco Group with the rest of the Topco Group following an
acquisition.
For so long as General Atlantic holds any
securities in Topco (including Ordinary Shares and Preference
Shares), the following matters will require the prior consent of
General Atlantic:
·
to enter into any related party transactions or enter into
any arrangements otherwise than at market value and on an arm's
length basis;
·
to declare or pay any dividend (whether final or interim) or
other distribution by Topco or by any other member of the Topco
Group (other than any Preference Dividend) other than on a pro-rata
basis, except where such member of the Topco Group is a
wholly-owned member of the Topco Group and that dividend or
distribution is being paid to another member of the Topco Group
that is directly or indirectly wholly-owned by Topco;
and
·
to vary the rights attaching to any Topco securities unless
such variation would not be materially and disproportionately
adverse to the economic, tax or legal position of General Atlantic
as compared to each other Topco shareholder.
Consent Matters - 10 per cent. or more holders of Ordinary
Shares
The following matters require the
prior consent of any Topco shareholder (other than General
Atlantic) holding 10 per cent. or more of the total number of
Ordinary Shares in issue at the relevant time on a fully diluted
basis (including the Warrants as if they had been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time):
·
to make or permit any substantial change to, or make any
decision that may result in a substantial change to, the business
conducted by any member of the Topco Group;
·
to amend or waive any provision of the Topco Articles, the
articles of association of any other any member of the Topco Group,
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement or any shareholder or
constitutional arrangements relating to Topco in each
case;
·
to vary the rights attaching to any securities in any member
of the Topco Group;
·
to declare or pay any dividend (whether final or interim) or
other distribution by Topco or by any other member of the Topco
Group (other than any Preference Dividend) other than on a pro-rata
basis, except where such member of the Topco Group is a
wholly-owned member of the Topco Group and that dividend or
distribution is being paid to another member of the Topco Group
that is directly or indirectly wholly-owned by Topco;
·
to enter into any related party transactions or enter into
any arrangements otherwise than at market value and on an arm's
length basis;
·
to take any steps to wind-up, liquidate or dissolve Topco or
any member of the Topco Group; and
·
to take any steps to obtain an administration order in
respect of Topco or any other member of the Topco Group or to
invite any person to appoint a receiver or receiver and manager of
the whole or any part of the business or assets of Topco or any
other member of the Topco Group.
During a Minority Protection Situation, Topco
shareholders holding 10 per cent. or more of the total number of
Ordinary Shares in issue at the relevant time on a fully diluted
basis (including the Warrants as if they had all been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their terms at
the relevant time) will have the benefit of a narrower set of
consent rights as compared to those listed above.
Economic rights, ranking and
waterfall
The economic rights described below are subject
to the risks also described below and in paragraph
13 (for example, that: (i) holders of Rollover
Securities may be diluted over time, potentially significantly,
should holders of Rollover Securities not elect to participate in
further issues of additional shares, loan notes or other securities
of the Topco Group; (ii) holders of Rollover Securities will be
diluted upon the exercise and conversion of the Warrants into
Ordinary Shares; (iii) holders of Rollover Securities are not
always entitled to participate in such issues; and (iv) such
additional securities may have different rights to the Rollover
Securities).
Preference
Shares
While the A2 Preference Shares do not benefit
from the Preference Dividend or any other dividend, the A2
Preference Shares will (until repaid in full) rank senior to the A1
Preference Shares and the B Preference Shares as regards any
distribution, buy-back, any other capital redemption or other
return of income or capital made by Topco.
The A1 Preference Shares and the B Preference
Shares will, subject to the "Return of capital rights" detailed in
paragraph 5 of this Appendix IV, rank
equally as regards any distribution, dividend, buy-back, any other
capital redemption or other return of income or capital made by
Topco.
In addition, the A1 Preference Shares and the B
Preference Shares will entitle the holders thereof to a fixed
cumulative preferential dividend payable in U.S. dollars at an
annual rate of 11 per cent. of the Issue Price of each A1
Preference Share and B Preference Share (the "Preference Dividend"). Any Preference
Dividend will be compounded quarterly on 31 March, 30 June, 30
September and 31 December in each year and be paid out in
accordance with the Topco Articles. In particular, 54.5 per cent.
of the Preference Dividend on each Preference Share (other than an
A2 Preference Share) accrued and outstanding as at these dates in
each year will be paid in cash to the person registered as the
holder of such Preference Share in accordance with the Topco
Articles, with the remaining 45.5 per cent. of such
Preference Dividend being added to the then-current amount of the
Arrears applicable to such Preference Share and continuing to
compound quarterly and accrue the Preference Dividend.
Ordinary
Shares
The Ordinary Shares will rank equally with each
other as regards any distribution, dividend, buyback, any other
capital redemption or other return of income or capital made by
Topco.
Return of
capital rights
Any return of proceeds to shareholders in Topco,
whether on an Exit (as described below) or otherwise, including the
right to receive and retain dividends and all other distributions
and returns of capital made or paid (except on a redemption or
purchase by Topco of any shares), will be distributed as
follows:
·
firstly, in priority to any payments to be made in respect of
the A1 Preference Shares, the B Preference Shares and the Ordinary
Shares, in paying to the holders of A2 Preference Shares then in
issue in respect of the A2 Preference Shares held by such holder an
amount equal to the applicable Issue Price;
·
secondly, in priority to any payments to be made in respect
of the Ordinary Shares, in paying to the holders of Preference
Shares (other than the A2 Preference Shares) then in issue (on a
pari passu basis) in
respect of the Preference Shares (other than the A2 Preference
Shares) held by such holder an amount equal to the applicable
Preference Share Redemption Price (being the relevant minimum
return threshold that must be achieved in order to redeem or sell
the Preference Shares) calculated up to and including the date of
the return of capital; and
·
thirdly, the balance (if any) shall be distributed amongst
the holders of the Ordinary Shares according to the number of
Ordinary Shares held by the relevant Shareholders at the relevant
time.
The B Preference Shares have a higher return
multiple (and therefore Preference Share Redemption Price) as
compared to the A1 Preference Shares, on account of the A1
Preference Shares being issued with the A2 Preference Shares. The
A2 Preference Shares do not benefit from a return multiple but will
be redeemed at their applicable Issue Price. Further details of the
return multiples applicable to the A1 Preference Shares and B
Preference Shares are set out in the definition of Preference Share
Redemption Price.
Redemption of A Preference Shares and B
Preference Shares
In accordance with the Topco Articles and
subject to any restrictions under applicable law, the Preference
Shares may be redeemed wholly or partially (with the A2 Preference
Shares being redeemed first) by Topco at the applicable Preference
Share Redemption Price (which, in the case of the A2 Preference
Shares, shall be their Issue Price) at any time by a
resolution of Topco Board, and will be redeemed in full at
the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price: (i)
if, following the sixth anniversary of the Effective Date,
General Atlantic exercises its right under the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement to require redemption of all of the Preference Shares;
(ii) on a direct or indirect change of control of the Group; or
(iii) immediately prior to an Exit.
Board representation
General Atlantic is entitled to:
·
for so long as it holds any Preference Shares, appoint and/or
remove one director to the Topco Board;
·
for so long as it holds 10 per cent. or more of the Ordinary
Shares on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as if they
had been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance
with their terms at the relevant time), appoint and/or remove one
director to the Topco Board; and
·
for so long as it holds any securities in Topco (including
Ordinary Shares and Preference Shares), appoint and/or remove one
observer to the Topco Board.
The person holding the position of Chief
Executive Officer from time to time will be appointed to the Topco
Board.
Each "Qualifying Investor" (being
a Topco shareholder (which, for the avoidance of
doubt, may include General Atlantic) holding such number of
Ordinary Shares as is equal to (and including) 25 per
cent. up to (but excluding) 35 per cent. of the total number of
Ordinary Shares on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as
if they had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares
in accordance with their terms at the relevant time)) is entitled
to appoint up to two persons as directors of Topco (provided that
there is no double counting with respect to the director
appointment rights deriving from holdings of Ordinary
Shares).
Each "Substantial Investor"
(being a Topco shareholder (which, for the
avoidance of doubt, may include General Atlantic) holding such
number of Ordinary Shares as is equal to (and including) 35 per
cent. or more of the total number of Ordinary Shares
on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as if they
had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in
accordance with their terms at the relevant time)) is entitled to
appoint up to three persons as directors of Topco (provided that
there is no double counting with respect to the director
appointment rights deriving from holdings of Ordinary
Shares).
The Topco Board is initially subject to a
maximum number of seven directors. If, at any time prior to a new
issue of Topco shares, the number of directors entitled to be
appointed to the Topco Board pursuant to the foregoing would exceed
seven, the number of directors nominated by the Topco shareholders
will be scaled back by reference to the lowest shareholding of
Ordinary Shares first, in accordance with the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement and subject to certain entrenched General Atlantic
director appointment rights. The maximum restriction on the total
number of directors of the Topco Board will cease to apply upon and
following any further issue of Topco shares following the Effective
Date.
The Chair of the Group will be appointed from
the members of the Topco Board by an "Investor Majority" (being any Topco
shareholders that, individually or in aggregate, hold more than
half of the Ordinary Shares in issue at any point in time, in each
case, on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as if they
had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in
accordance with their terms at the relevant time)), other than in
circumstances where a Minority Protection Situation has occurred
and continues to persist.
Other governance and information
rights
General Atlantic, together with the holders of a
"Rollover Investor
Majority" (being any Substantial Investors and/or Qualifying
Investors that, individually or in aggregate, hold more than half
of the Ordinary Shares in issue at any point in time, in each case
on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as if they had all
been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance
with their terms at the relevant time), but excluding any Ordinary
Shares held by General Atlantic), if any, may, acting reasonably,
amend the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and/or the Topco Articles
and/or related documents (notwithstanding any class rights) without
the consent of, and upon reasonable notice setting out the
amendments to, the other Topco shareholders, save that no such
amendment will be made which would be disproportionately adverse to
the economic (including capital and income rights), tax or legal
position of the Rollover Investors as compared to General
Atlantic.
Topco will provide, grant access to and deliver
to General Atlantic, each Substantial Investor and each Topco
shareholder who holds 10 per cent. or more of the total number of
Ordinary Shares in issue at the relevant time (on a fully diluted
basis, including the Warrants as if they had been exercised and
converted into Ordinary Shares in accordance with their
terms):
·
the annual audited consolidated accounts of the Topco Group,
as soon as reasonably practicable following, and in any event
within three months of, the end of the financial year to which they
relate;
·
the quarterly unaudited consolidated financial statements in
respect of the Topco Group (including, for the avoidance of doubt,
profit and loss statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement)
within 30 days after the respective quarter end;
·
monthly management accounts for the Topco Group, within 30
days of the end of the relevant month;
·
any quarterly disclosures provided to lenders in connection
with the monitoring of financial covenants pursuant to the Topco
Group's financing documents, as soon as reasonably practicable
following delivery of such information to the lenders under those
financing documents; and
·
any quarterly reporting on key performance indicators as soon
as practicable (and at the latest within 45 days after the
respective quarter end).
In addition, Topco will provide, grant access
to and deliver to General Atlantic and each Substantial
Investor:
·
such access to the management and/or employees of the Topco
Group (including the local management and/or employees of any
member of the Topco Group) as General Atlantic or any Substantial
Investor may reasonably require from time to time; and
·
such other information with respect to the Topco Group or any
member of the Topco Group as General Atlantic or any Substantial
Investor may reasonably require: (i) in order to comply with its
legal, regulatory and/or tax reporting obligations or respond to
requests by any government entity; or (ii) in the case of General
Atlantic only, any mandatory, limited partner or investor
reporting obligation applicable to General Atlantic or its
associates or to determine or assess whether any
circumstances have arisen that may constitute or cause a Minority
Protection Situation.
General Atlantic enhanced governance
rights
In a Minority Protection Situation, General
Atlantic has certain enhanced governance rights pursuant to which
it may acquire control of the Topco Board and , subject to certain
protected Topco shareholder rights, take all such steps and actions
and do all such things that, in the opinion of General Atlantic
(acting reasonably and in good faith), are necessary or desirable
in order to mitigate or respond to such Minority Protection
Situation.
Further issues
The Rollover Investors will be entitled to
participate in issues of Ordinary Shares by Topco pro-rata to their
holdings of such shares (subject to an emergency issue regime and
related catch-up rights), excluding any such shares
issued:
·
in connection with General Atlantic (and/or its associates)
subscribing for Ordinary Shares in the capital of Topco in order to
fund (indirectly) the consideration payable by Bidco under the Cash
Offer to LTG Shareholders, pursuant to the terms of the Acquisition
(for the avoidance of doubt, this is not expected to have a
dilutive impact on holders of Topco securities);
·
to General Atlantic and/or its associates in connection with
any Pre Approved Funding required to ensure the Topco Group has at
least US$38 million of available cash as at the Effective
Date;
·
to the Rollover Investors pursuant to the Scheme (or, if
applicable, the Offer);
·
upon the exercise of any Warrant pursuant to the terms of the
Warrant Instrument;
·
to actual or potential employees, directors or consultants of
the Topco Group (whether directly or indirectly, including through
a trust, nominee or other investment vehicle established for the
purposes of holding Securities on behalf of such persons) in
connection with any management incentive plan related to the Topco
Group;
·
to any vendor(s) as non-cash consideration on the acquisition
of, or merger with, all or part of another business, undertaking,
company or assets;
·
other than to General Atlantic or any of its associates, in
connection with the debt financing arrangements of the Topco Group,
which will dilute securities held by the Topco shareholders
pro-rata;
·
in connection with an IPO or a pre-IPO reorganisation
transaction; or
·
in respect of which General Atlantic and the holders of a
Topco Special Majority agree in writing that the pre-emption rights
in the Topco Shareholders' Agreement will not apply (it being noted
that, together, General Atlantic, Andrew Brode and Jonathan
Satchell would be able to form a Topco Special
Majority);
Additionally, on any issuance of Preference
Shares following the Effective Date (other than excluded issues as
outlined above), 30 per cent. of the proposed issuance (the
"Ordinary Shareholder
Allocation") will be allocated to holders of
Ordinary Shares, with each holder of Ordinary Shares having the
right to subscribe for a portion of such Ordinary Shareholder
Allocation pro rata to their holding of the total number of
Ordinary Shares on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as
if they had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares
in accordance with their terms at the relevant time). The remaining
70 per cent. of any such Preference Share issue will be allocated
to holders of Preference Shares pro rata to their holding of the
total number of Preference Shares.
Transfers of Rollover Securities
including right of first offer
The Rollover Securities will not be
transferable during an initial five year lock-up period (the
"Lock-up Period"), save in
very limited circumstances such as where required or permitted
pursuant to a reorganisation transaction, or to close family
members, vehicles under their (or their close family's) sole
control, family trust(s) established for tax planning purposes
and/or associates, subject to customary transfer back requirements
or otherwise with the prior consent of the Topco Board and (for so
long as General Atlantic holds the General Atlantic Minimum
Shareholding) General Atlantic.
Following the expiration of the Lock-up Period,
a Rollover Investor will be entitled to transfer its Rollover
Securities, subject to certain restrictions in respect of the
identity of the proposed transferee and, in circumstances where the
proposed transfer would not result in the proposed transferee
acquiring control of the Topco Group, a right of first offer in
favour of each Topco shareholder holding 10 per cent. or more of
the relevant shares. Any proposed transferee of Rollover
Securities:
·
must adhere to the Topco Shareholders' Agreement;
·
must complete any applicable anti-money laundering,
anti-bribery and corruption, sanctions, proceeds of crime,
anti-terrorism financing or know your client checks reasonably
required by the Topco Board, General Atlantic or any other relevant
person (including any corporate administrator) in order to satisfy
their and their associates' respective obligations in respect of
any such laws and internal compliance procedures, and/or any
antitrust or regulatory change in control approvals required by any
regulator (which Topco will provide reasonable information and
assistance in obtaining, if required);
·
must not compete with the Topco Group;
·
must not be a U.S. Person;
·
must not be a sanctioned person; and
·
must not be considered by the Topco Board (acting reasonably)
to be a person whose personal or business reputation would mean
that their investment is likely to result in reputational harm to
General Atlantic, its associates or the Topco Group.
Drag-along and tag
along
If, following expiry of the Lock-Up Period,
General Atlantic or one or more Topco shareholders together with
its associates (each a "Dragging
Investor") proposes to directly or indirectly transfer any
of its securities in the Topco Group to a bona fide third party
purchaser which is not affiliated with such Dragging Investor (and
for these purposes, other than with the consent of General Atlantic
for so long as it holds any Preference Shares and/or at least five
per cent. of the Ordinary Shares, each Rollover Investor and their
respective associates will be deemed to be connected to each other
Rollover Investor and their respective associates) as part of a
single transaction or series of connected transactions, which would
result in the proposed transferee acquiring control of the Topco
Group, the Dragging Investor will have a right to "drag along"
(i.e., force the sale of) all of the securities held by the
remaining Topco shareholders on terms economically no less
favourable as compared to the Dragging Investor to such third party
purchaser. Where a Topco shareholder is being forced to sell,
and the Dragging Investor will receive any part of
their consideration other than in cash, the relevant
Topco shareholder can elect, in its absolute
discretion, to receive the fair market value of such non-cash
consideration in cash on equivalent terms to the Dragging Investor
in respect of the relevant part.
Where, following expiry of the Lock-Up Period,
one or more Topco shareholders together with its associates
proposes to make a direct or indirect transfer to a bona fide third
party purchaser as part of a single transaction or series of
connected transactions (a "Tag-Along Seller"), the remaining Topco
shareholders will have the following rights to "tag along" (i.e.
join in the sale): (i) a "tag along" right exercisable in respect
of all of their Rollover Securities where the relevant transfer
would result in the purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group;
or (ii) a pro-rata "tag along" right in respect of their Rollover
Securities in the case of a transfer of Ordinary Shares which would
not result in the purchaser acquiring control of the Topco Group.
In the case of (ii) above, the remaining Topco shareholders will be
entitled to sell to the purchaser a pro-rata portion
of their Rollover Ordinary Shares and their B Preference Shares
(the latter being calculated as proportion of such remaining Topco
shareholder's holding of Preference Shares as is equal to the
proportion that the Rollover Ordinary Shares to be sold by the
Tag-Along Seller bears to the Tag-Along Seller's aggregate holding
of Ordinary Shares). Any transfer by Topco
shareholders of their securities in the Topco Group under the "tag
along" provision will be at the same price. On a "tag along" sale,
Topco shareholders may be required to receive non-cash
consideration. There is no "tag along" right on a transfer of
Preference Shares which does not result in the relevant purchaser
acquiring control of the Group.
In circumstances where the proposed transferee
will acquire control of the Topco Group and where any Preference
Shares are being transferred by way of "tag along" sale, the
consideration payable for each Preference Share will, at a minimum,
be the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price. Other than
with the consent of General Atlantic for so long as it holds any
Preference Shares, no Rollover Investor or any of its associates
will be entitled to exercise its "drag-along" rights or otherwise
participate in an Exit unless such Exit complies in full with the
rights of the holders of A Preference Shares (including payment of
the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price calculated as at
the date of completion of the relevant Exit).
Exit arrangements
Following the sixth anniversary of the
Effective Date, General Atlantic will be entitled to require that
all of the Preference Shares are redeemed in full for a cash amount
equal to the applicable Preference Share Redemption Price and that
all of the Ordinary Shares held by it are repurchased by Topco. If
Topco is unable to deliver the foregoing within 12 months, General
Atlantic will have the right to require any share sale, asset sale,
IPO, winding-up or other form of liquidity event relating to the
Topco Group (each an "Exit") if certain criteria set out in
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement are satisfied. In these
circumstances, all Rollover Investors are required to take such
action as is reasonably requested by General Atlantic to achieve
the Exit including:
·
assisting in the production and negotiation of such
documentation as is required to effect the Exit;
·
giving such co-operation and assistance as General Atlantic
reasonably requests, which will include, in respect Rollover
Investors who are Qualifying Investors or Substantial Investors,
co-operation and assistance in the preparation of an information
memorandum and the giving of presentations to potential purchasers,
investors, financiers and their advisers;
·
voting in favour of, and instructing any associates to vote
in favour of any shareholders' resolutions and entering into any
arrangements, agreements or transactions proposed by General
Atlantic that are required to prepare for or implement the Exit and
otherwise procure the implementation of the Exit;
·
in the event of a proposed IPO, agreeing and entering into
(if they are considered reasonably necessary or desirable by
General Atlantic or corporate finance advisers advising on the
Exit): (i) such undertakings in relation to the retention, disposal
or manner of disposal of any securities they may receive as
consideration for their Securities (known as "lock-ups"); and (ii)
provisions designed to result in an orderly disposal of securities
(or securities received as consideration for their securities) by
the Topco shareholders; and
·
giving customary warranties as to the title to the securities
held by the Rollover Investor in the capital of Topco and its
capacity to sell those securities, and, in the case of each
Substantial Rollover Investor and Qualifying Rollover Investor,
customary warranties and indemnities to potential purchases or
underwriters, subject to customary limitations including, with
respect to any business warranties and indemnities, that such
business warranties and indemnities are given on a "fully insured"
basis (provided that warranty and indemnity insurance is available
on commercially reasonable terms (including as to pricing) in
accordance with market practice at the relevant time and in a form
reasonably satisfactory to the purchaser(s)).
The Topco Board will otherwise, in consultation
with General Atlantic, establish the timing, structure, pricing and
other terms and conditions of any Exit (following expiry of the
Lock-Up Period) provided that any such Exit: (i) must be approved
by the Topco Board and the consent of General Atlantic must be
obtained; (ii) may not be disproportionately adverse to the
economic (including capital and income rights), tax or legal
position of General Atlantic as compared to the Rollover Investors;
and (iii) must, other than with the consent of General Atlantic for
so long as General Atlantic holds any Preference Shares, comply in
full with the rights of the holders of A Preference Shares
(including payment of the applicable Preference Share Redemption
Price calculated as at the date of completion of the Exit). The
Topco Board must take into account the tax and legal considerations
submitted by General Atlantic on the structure and implementation
of the Exit.
In circumstances where General Atlantic has
triggered an Exit in accordance with the Topco Shareholders'
Agreement, General Atlantic and/or its associates will have a "drag
along" right as described above.
All Rollover Investors are required to take
such actions as are reasonably requested by the Topco Board to
achieve any Exit including, in the event of a proposed IPO,
agreeing and entering into (if they are considered necessary or
desirable by the Topco Board (acting reasonably) or corporate
finance advisers advising on the Exit): (i) subject to a
proportionate sale right, such reasonable and customary
undertakings in relation to the retention, disposal or manner of
disposal of any securities they may receive as consideration for
their securities (known as "lock-ups"); or (ii) provisions designed
to result in an orderly disposal of securities (or securities
received as consideration for their securities) by the Rollover
Investors.
Equivalent cooperation provisions and
obligations also apply in relation to any raising of additional
debt or equity financing for or refinancing of the Topco Group (a
"Refinancing").
Upfront discount
General Atlantic will be entitled to charge
Topco a fee equal to the Upfront Discount Amount, which shall be
satisfied by: (i) reducing the aggregate subscription price of the
A1 Preference Shares subscribed for by General Atlantic on or
around the Effective Date by the Upfront Discount Amount; and (ii)
paying, on behalf of General Atlantic, the subscription price for
the Upfront Discount A2 Preference Shares to be issued to General
Atlantic on or around the Effective Date (the "Upfront Discount").
Transaction fees and
expenses
General Atlantic intends that all costs, fees
and expenses in connection with any Exit, reorganisation
transaction or Refinancing as determined by the Topco Board (acting
reasonably) will be borne by the Topco Group (and therefore the
holders of Rollover Securities will bear their pro-rata portion of
such costs).
Power of attorney
Eligible LTG Shareholders who validly elect to
receive Rollover Securities by means of an Alternative Offer will,
pursuant to a power of attorney to be included in the Scheme,
deliver a fully executed deed of adherence pursuant to which they
will be bound by the Topco Shareholders' Agreement.
Under the terms of the power of attorney, each
Rollover Investor will also appoint Topco and General Atlantic to
act, individually or together, as such Rollover Investor's attorney
to: (i) execute, deliver and sign any and all agreements and
documents; (ii) do all things in the Rollover Investor's name; and
(iii) attend and vote at any Topco shareholder meetings and sign
any written resolutions of Topco, in each case as Topco or General
Atlantic may, in their absolute discretion (in good faith) consider
necessary or desirable to facilitate the enforcement of certain key
terms of the Topco Shareholders' Agreement including (but not
limited to) provisions relating to new issues, transfers of
securities, Exits and Refinancings and variations to the Topco
Shareholders' Agreement.
Employment Taxes
Each Rollover Investor will have sole
responsibility for declaring and settling their respective tax
liabilities (including all interest and penalties in relation
thereto) in each relevant jurisdiction as a result of, in respect
of, by reference to or in connection with the issue of any Rollover
Securities, Bidco Rollover Securities, Midco 3 Rollover Securities,
Midco 2 Rollover Securities and Midco 1 Rollover Securities or
otherwise the election to receive an Alternative Offer, including,
without limitation, arising from the grant, subscription, issuance,
acquisition, vesting, exercise, ownership, holding, transfer,
conversion or disposal of such securities, the variation of any
right attaching to or comprising in any such securities, being
given the right or opportunity to acquire any such securities, any
other action, event, transfer, transaction or thing done (whether
actual or deemed) at any time in relation to any such securities
(including the waiver of any loan relating to those securities), or
the entry into of any tax election related to such
securities.
Under the Topco Shareholders' Agreement, the
holders of Rollover Securities agree that the Topco Group may,
where applicable, make deductions from salary, bonuses or other
employment income of the relevant holder for the relevant period or
any subsequent period, in order to account for any such tax
liability borne by the Topco Group on behalf of the relevant
Rollover Investor.
To the extent that any such deductions are
insufficient to cover any such taxes due within 60 calendar days of
such tax arising (or such shorter time as may be required by law or
regulation or as deemed necessary or desirable by the Topco Group
in order to minimise such tax), each holder of Rollover Securities
severally covenants to pay (to the extent permitted by law) to the
relevant Topco Group company (on an after-tax basis) an amount
equal to the balance of any such taxes which are due, within 10
calendar days of demand by the Topco Group.
Governing law and
jurisdiction
The Topco Shareholders' Agreement and any
non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with it
will be governed by English law. The courts of England will have
exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of
or in connection with Topco Shareholders' Agreement and any
proceedings arising out of or in connection with it must be brought
in such courts. The parties to the Topco Shareholders' Agreement
(including the Rollover Investors) will be required to irrevocably
submit to the jurisdiction of the English courts and will waive any
objection to proceedings in any such court on the ground of venue
or on the ground that the proceedings have been brought in an
inconvenient forum.
6.
APPENDIX V
CONFIRMATIONS BY THE LTG
DIRECTORS
On 17 September 2024, LTG announced its half
year results for the six months ended 30 June 2024. As part of that
announcement, the following statement (the "LTG Statement") regarding the current
trading and outlook for the full financial year to 31 December 2024
was published:
"The Group
previously expected revenue to be in the range of £480 to £500
million and adjusted EBIT to be in the range of £88 to £93 million
for FY 2024 (adjusting for the completion of the sale of Vector on
1 July). This range was based on an average GBP:USD rate of 1.26
for H2 2024. Based on an average GBP:USD rate of 1.31 for H2, the
ranges adjust to £473 to £493 million of revenue and adjusted EBIT
of £86 to £91 million for FY 2024 (adjusting for the completion of
the sale of Vector on 1 July). The Board expects the Group to be
towards the bottom of the range given current trading, in
particular at GP Strategies."
The LTG Statement is made again today in
paragraph 9.
The LTG Statement was originally published
before the start of the Offer Period. The requirements of Rule
28.1(c) of the Code apply in relation to the LTG
Statement.
Basis of preparation and
confirmation
The LTG Directors confirm that the LTG Statement
remains valid and confirm that the LTG Statement has been properly
compiled on the basis of the assumptions stated below and that the
basis of accounting used is consistent with LTG's accounting
policies.
Assumptions
The LTG Statement was prepared on the basis of
the following assumptions, any of which could turn out to be
incorrect and therefore affect the validity of the LTG
Statement:
Factors within
the influence and control of the LTG Directors
·
There is no material change in the operational strategy of
the Group from the date of this Announcement.
·
There will be no further acquisitions or disposals that will
have a material impact on LTG's results beyond those already
announced prior to 3 December 2024.
·
There is no material change to the Group's existing and
prospective customer contracts or agreements since 3 December
2024.
·
There are no material strategic investments over and above
those currently planned, including the hiring of additional
employees.
·
There will be no change in the Group's costs over and above
those currently planned and anticipated.
·
The LTG Statement does not include any impact on LTG or the
Group of the Acquisition.
·
LTG's current accounting policies will be consistently
applied until at least the end of LTG's current financial year
ending on 31 December 2024.
Factors
outside the influence or control of the LTG
Directors
·
There will be no material macroeconomic change in the
principal markets and regions in which the Group
operates.
·
There will be no material adverse events that will have a
significant impact on LTG's financial results.
·
There will be no material impact from the launch of new
software products or services, which will have an impact on
customer demand and acceptance and supply of the Group's products
and services, which will have a significant impact on LTG's
financial results.
·
There will be no changes in interest rates, bases of
taxation, regulatory environment or legislation that have a
material impact on the Group, including in relation to operations
or accounting policies.
·
There will be no material changes in customer demand for the
Group's software products or services or the competitive
environment in which the Group operates.
·
There will be no business disruptions that materially affect
the Group or its partners.
·
There will be no significant and sustained weakening or
strengthening of sterling against the currencies of the major
territories in which the Group operates.
·
There will be no material litigation that will have a
significant impact on LTG' financial results.
Other important factors and information are
contained in LTG's most recent annual report and accounts for the
12 months ended 31 December 2023 (including the risks summarised in
the section entitled "Principal Risks and Uncertainties"), LTG's
most recent interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2024,
and LTG's other periodic filings and statements available at
https://www.ltgplc.com/.
APPENDIX VI
DEFINITIONS
The following definitions apply throughout this
Announcement unless the context requires otherwise:
"A Preference Shares"
|
the A1 Preference Shares and the A2 Preference
Shares;
|
"A1 Preference Shares"
|
the cumulative redeemable A preference shares in
the capital of Topco, having the rights of "A1 Preference Shares"
set out in the Topco Articles;
|
"A2 Preference Shares"
|
the redeemable A preference shares in the
capital of Topco, having the rights of "A2 Preference Shares" set
out in the Topco Articles;
|
"Acquisition"
|
the proposed acquisition by Bidco of the entire
issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital of LTG (if and to
the extent not already directly or indirectly owned by Bidco), by
means of the Scheme, or should Bidco so elect (subject to the
consent of the Panel, where necessary, and the terms of the
Co-operation Agreement) by means of an Offer and, where the context
admits, any subsequent revision, variation, extension or renewal
thereof;
|
"Adjusted EBIT"
|
the "Reported Adjusted EBIT" as defined in the
consolidated annual report and accounts of the Group for the
financial year ended 31 December 2023, pro forma for the disposals
of VectorVMS, Lorien Engineering Solutions and TTi
Global;
|
"AI"
|
artificial intelligence;
|
"AIM"
|
AIM, a market operated by the London Stock
Exchange;
|
"AIM Rules"
|
AIM Rules for Companies as published by the
London Stock Exchange;
|
"Alternative Offer"
|
either of the alternatives to the Cash Offer
pursuant to which each eligible LTG Shareholder who makes a valid
election may elect to receive Rollover Securities, via the issue of
rollover loan notes in exchange for some or all of their LTG Shares
held, which loan notes will, subject to implementation of the
Rollover Mechanism, ultimately be exchanged for the relevant
Rollover Securities, subject to the terms and conditions set out in
this Announcement and to be set out in the Scheme Document (or, if
applicable, the Offer Document) in due course, further details of
which are set out in paragraphs 4 and 13 and Appendix
IV;
|
"Alternative Offer 1"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"Alternative Offer 2"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"Alternative Offer Cap"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"Announcement"
|
this announcement;
|
"Arrears"
|
in relation to any Preference Share other than
an A2 Preference Share, all accruals and arrears of any dividend or
other monies payable in respect of, or otherwise in relation to,
that Preference Share which have not been paid (including for the
avoidance of doubt any accrued and outstanding Preference Dividend,
but excluding any cash amounts actually paid on such Preference
Share by way of settlement of the Preference Dividend, without
double counting);
|
"Articles"
|
the articles of association of LTG from time to
time;
|
"Authorisations"
|
regulatory authorisations, orders, recognitions,
grants, consents, clearances, confirmations, certificates,
licences, permissions or approvals;
|
"B Preference
Shares"
|
the B preference shares in the capital of Topco
having the rights of "B Preference Shares" set out in the Topco
Articles;
|
"Bidco"
|
Leopard UK Bidco Limited (or if General Atlantic
elects, a nominee or wholly-owned subsidiary of General Atlantic
notified in writing to LTG prior to publication of the Scheme
Document (or, if applicable, the Offer Document));
|
"Bidco Group"
|
Bidco and its subsidiary undertakings and where
the context permits, each of them;
|
"Bidco Rollover Securities"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
3 of Appendix IV;
|
"Blocking Law"
|
(i) any provision of Council Regulation
(EC) No 2271/1996 of 22 November 1996 (or any law or regulation
implementing such Regulation in any member state of the European
Union); or (ii) any provision of Council Regulation (EC) No
2271/1996 of 22 November 1996, as it forms part of domestic law of
the United Kingdom by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act
2018;
|
"Business Day"
|
a day (other than Saturdays, Sundays and public
holidays in the UK) on which banks are open for business in London,
New York and Jersey;
|
"CAGR"
|
the compound annual growth rate;
|
"Cash Offer"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
2;
|
"Clearances"
|
any approvals, authorisations, certificates,
consents, comfort letters, clearances, determinations, exemptions,
findings of suitability, permissions, confirmations and/or waivers
that are required or may need to be obtained, all filings that are
required or may need to be made, all waiting periods that are
required or may need to have expired, from or under any laws,
regulations or practices applied by any Relevant Authority (or
under any agreements or arrangements to which any Relevant
Authority is a party), in each case that are considered by Bidco to
be necessary and/or advisable to satisfy one or more of the
Regulatory Conditions;
|
"Closing Price"
|
the closing middle market price of a LTG Share
on a particular trading day as derived from the AIM Appendix to the
Daily Official List;
|
"CMA"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(a) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"Code"
|
the City Code on Takeovers and
Mergers;
|
"Companies Act"
|
the Companies Act 2006 (as amended from time to
time);
|
"Conditions"
|
the conditions to the implementation of the
Acquisition, as set out in Appendix I and to be set out in the
Scheme Document;
|
"Confidentiality Agreement"
|
the confidentiality agreement dated 9 July 2024
between GASC APF, L.P. and LTG relating to the Acquisition, as
described in paragraph 12;
|
"Co-operation Agreement"
|
the co-operation agreement dated 4 December 2024
between Bidco and LTG relating to, among other things, the
implementation of the Acquisition, as described in paragraph
12;
|
"Corporate Services Provider"
|
CSC Corporate Services (Jersey) Limited, Topco's
corporate services provider in Jersey (being an entity authorised
to carry out trust company business under the Financial Services
(Jersey) Law 1998);
|
"Court"
|
the High Court of Justice in England and
Wales;
|
"Court Meeting"
|
the meeting of LTG Shareholders to be convened
pursuant to an order of the Court under the Companies Act for the
purpose of considering and, if thought fit, approving the Scheme
(with or without amendment), including any adjournment thereof,
notice of which is to be contained in the Scheme
Document;
|
"Court Order"
|
the order of the Court sanctioning the
Scheme;
|
"CREST"
|
the system for the paperless settlement of
trades in securities and the holding of uncertificated securities
operated by Euroclear;
|
"Daily Official List"
|
the Daily Official List published by the London
Stock Exchange;
|
"Deutsche Numis"
|
Numis Securities Limited (which is trading for
these purposes as Deutsche Numis);
|
"Disclosed"
|
the information fairly disclosed by or on behalf
of LTG: (i) in the consolidated annual report and accounts of the
Group for the financial year ended 31 December 2023; (ii) in the
interim results of the Group for the six months ended 30 June 2024;
(iii) in any other announcement to a Regulatory Information Service
prior to the date of this Announcement; (iv) in this Announcement;
or (v) in the virtual data room operated by or on behalf of LTG for
the purposes of the Acquisition prior to 3 December
2024;
|
"Dealing Disclosure"
|
has the same meaning as in Rule 8 of the
Code;
|
"Dragging Investor"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"EA"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(a) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"Effective"
|
in the context of the Acquisition:
(a) if
the Acquisition is implemented by way of the Scheme, the Scheme
having become effective pursuant to its terms; or
(b) if
the Acquisition is implemented by way of an Offer, such Offer
having been declared and become unconditional in accordance with
the Code;
|
"Effective Date"
|
the date on which either: (i) the Scheme becomes
effective in accordance with its terms; or (ii) if Bidco elects
(subject to the consent of the Panel, where necessary, and the
terms of the Co-operation Agreement) to implement the Acquisition
by way of an Offer, the date on which such Offer becomes or is
declared unconditional;
|
"Euroclear"
|
Euroclear UK & Ireland International
Limited;
|
"Exit"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"FCA"
|
the Financial Conduct Authority acting in its
capacity as the Authority competent authority for the purposes of
Part VI of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act
2000;
|
"Form(s) of Election"
|
the form(s) of election for use by LTG
Shareholders electing for an Alternative Offer which will accompany
(or be made available with) the Scheme Document;
|
"Forms of Proxy"
|
the forms of proxy in connection with each of
the Court Meeting and the General Meeting, which will accompany (or
be made available with) the Scheme Document;
|
"FSMA"
|
the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as
amended);
|
"General Atlantic"
|
GASC APF, L.P. and certain of its managed funds
(including Atlantic Park), accounts and/or affiliates;
|
"General Atlantic Minimum
Shareholding"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"General Meeting"
|
the general meeting of LTG Shareholders
(including any adjournment thereof) to be convened in connection
with the Scheme;
|
"GP Strategies"
|
GP Strategies Corporation;
|
"Goldman Sachs"
|
Goldman Sachs International;
|
"Group"
|
LTG and its subsidiary undertakings and, where
the context permits, each of them;
|
"GWB"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(a) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"Hedging Instrument"
|
means the foreign exchange confirmation entered
into by Bidco on or around the date of this
Announcement;
|
"HSBC"
|
HSBC Bank plc;
|
"IFRS"
|
International Financial Reporting
Standards;
|
"Independent LTG Directors"
|
the LTG Directors other than Andrew Brode and
Jonathan Satchell;
|
"Interim Facilities
Agreement"
|
the interim facilities agreement between, among
others, Bidco as company, the Original Interim Lenders (as defined
therein), Alter Domus Agency Services (UK) Limited as interim
facility agent and Alter Domus Trustees (UK) Limited as interim
security agent dated 4 December 2024;
|
"Intermediate Midcos"
|
each of Midco 1, Midco 2 and Midco 3;
|
"Investor Majority"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"IPO"
|
an initial public offering;
|
"Issue Price"
|
in respect of each Preference Share and each
Ordinary Share, the price at which such Preference Share or
Ordinary Share is issued, being the aggregate of the amount paid up
or credited as paid up in respect of the nominal value thereof and
any share premium thereon;
|
"KYC Form(s)"
|
the forms(s) for completion of the "know your
customer" checks in connection with the Rollover Securities, which
will accompany (or be made available with) the Scheme
Document;
|
"Lock-up Period"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"London Stock Exchange"
|
London Stock Exchange plc;
|
"Long-Stop Date"
|
30 June 2025, or such later date: (i) as may be
agreed by Bidco and LTG (with the Panel's consent, if required);
(ii) in a competitive situation, as Bidco may specify with the
Panel's consent; or (iii) as the Panel may direct under the Note on
Section 3 of Appendix 7 to the Code (or, where the Acquisition is
implemented by way of an Offer, under Rule 12.1(a)(ii)), and in
each case as the Court may approve (if such approval(s) are
required);
|
"LTG"
|
Learning Technologies Group plc;
|
"LTG Board"
|
the board of directors of LTG as at the date of
this Announcement, or, where the context so requires, the directors
of LTG from time to time;
|
"LTG Directors"
|
the directors of LTG at the time of this
Announcement or, where the context so requires, the directors of
LTG from time to time;
|
"LTG Share Plans"
|
(i) the In-Deed Online PLC Enterprise
Management Incentive (EMI) Share Options Plan; (ii) the Learning
Technologies Group Plc Nominal Cost Option Plan; (iii) LTG Long
Term Incentive Plan; (iv) The Learning Technologies Group plc
Sharesave Scheme; (v) The Learning Technologies Group plc Employee
Stock Purchase Plan; (vi) the Learning Technologies Group PLC U.S.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan; and (vii) the LTG Peak Performance
Trust;
|
"LTG Shareholders"
|
the holders of LTG Shares;
|
"LTG Shares"
|
the existing unconditionally allotted or issued
and fully paid ordinary shares of £0.00375 each in the capital of
LTG and any further shares which are unconditionally allotted or
issued before the Scheme becomes Effective;
|
"LTG Statement"
|
has the meaning given in Appendix V;
|
"Meetings"
|
the Court Meeting and General
Meeting;
|
"Midco 1"
|
Leopard UK Topco Limited;
|
"Midco 1 Rollover Securities"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
3 of Appendix IV;
|
"Midco 2"
|
Leopard UK Midco I Limited;
|
"Midco 2 Rollover Securities"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
3 of Appendix IV;
|
"Midco 3"
|
Leopard UK Midco II Limited;
|
"Midco 3 Rollover Securities"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
3 of Appendix IV;
|
"Minority Protection
Situation"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"Non-Independent LTG
Directors"
|
each of Andrew Brode and Jonathan Satchell or
such other LTG Director which LTG considers not to be independent
of Bidco from time to time;
|
"NSI Act"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(b) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"Offer"
|
should the Acquisition be implemented by way of
a takeover offer as defined in Chapter 3 of Part 28 of the
Companies Act, the offer to be made by or on behalf of Bidco to
acquire the entire issued, and to be issued, ordinary share capital
of LTG on the terms and conditions to be set out in the related
offer document (and, where the context admits, any subsequent
revision, variation, extension or renewal of such takeover
offer);
|
"Offer Document"
|
should the Acquisition be implemented by way of
an Offer, the document to be sent to LTG Shareholders which will
contain, amongst other things, the terms and conditions of the
Offer;
|
"Offer Period"
|
the offer period (as defined by the Code)
relating to LTG, which commenced on 27 September 2024;
|
"Opening Position Disclosure"
|
has the same meaning as in Rule 8 of the
Code;
|
"Ordinary Shareholder
Allocation"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Ordinary Shares"
|
the ordinary shares in the capital of Topco
having the rights of "Ordinary Shares" set out in the Topco
Articles;
|
"Overseas Shareholders"
|
LTG Shareholders (or nominees of, or custodians
or trustees for LTG Shareholders) not resident in, or nationals or
citizens of the United Kingdom;
|
"Panel"
|
the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers;
|
"Phase 1 CMA Investigation"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(a) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"Phase 2 CMA Investigation"
|
has the meaning given to it in Condition
3(a) of Part A of Appendix I;
|
"PJT Partners"
|
PJT Partners (UK) Limited;
|
"Pre Approved Funding"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
4 of Appendix IV;
|
"Preference Dividend"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Preference Share Adjustment
Amount"
|
any amounts in respect of the Preference
Dividend actually paid in cash on the relevant Preference Share
(other than any A2 Preference Share) at any time prior to the date
of calculation;
|
"Preference Share Redemption
Price"
|
in relation to each Preference Share, where the
date on which the Preference Shares are redeemed in accordance with
the Topco Shareholders' Agreement and the Topco Articles
occurs:
(a) at
any time following the Effective Date but before (and including)
the second anniversary of the Effective Date, an amount equal to
the higher of: (i) in the case of each A1 Preference Share: (A) the
factor of 1.42 multiplied
by the Issue Price of such A1 Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount; (ii) in the case of each A2
Preference Share, the Issue Price of such A2 Preference Share; and
(iii) in the case of each B Preference Share: (A) the factor of
1.45 multiplied by the
Issue Price of such B Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount;
(b) at
any time after (and excluding) the second anniversary of the
Effective Date but before (and including) the third anniversary of
the Effective Date, an amount equal to the higher of: (i) in the
case of each A1 Preference Share: (A) the factor of 1.47
multiplied by the Issue
Price of such A1 Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount; (ii) in the case of each A2
Preference Share, the Issue Price of such A2 Preference Share; and
(iii) in the case of each B Preference Share: (A) the factor of
1.50 multiplied by the
Issue Price of such B Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount;
(c) at
any time after (but excluding) the third anniversary of the
Effective Date but before (and including) the fourth anniversary of
the Effective Date, an amount equal to the higher of: (i) in the
case of each A1 Preference Share: (A) the factor of 1.52
multiplied by the Issue
Price of such A1 Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount; (ii) in the case of each A2
Preference Share, the Issue Price of such A2 Preference Share; and
(iii) in the case of each B Preference Share: (A) the factor of
1.55 multiplied by the
Issue Price of such B Preference Share, less the Preference Share Adjustment
Amount; and (B) the Prevailing Amount;
(d) at any
time after (and excluding) the fourth anniversary of the Effective
Date, an amount equal to the higher of: (i) in the case of each A1
Preference Share: (A) the factor of 1.62 multiplied by the Issue Price of such
A1 Preference Share, less
the Preference Share Adjustment Amount; and (B) the Prevailing
Amount; (ii) in the case of each A2 Preference Share, the Issue
Price of such A2 Preference Share; and (iii) in the case of each B
Preference Share: (A) the factor of 1.65 multiplied by the Issue Price of such
B Preference Share, less
the Preference Share Adjustment Amount; and (B) the Prevailing
Amount;
|
"Preference Shares"
|
the A Preference Shares and the B Preference
Shares;
|
"Prevailing Amount"
|
in respect of each A1 Preference Share and B
Preference Share, the sum of:
(a) the
Issue Price of such A1 Preference Share or B Preference Share (as
applicable); and
(b) an
amount equal to the Arrears on that A1 Preference Share or B
Preference Share (as applicable);
|
"Qualifying
Investor"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Refinancing"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Registrar of Companies"
|
the Registrar of Companies in England and
Wales;
|
"Regulatory Conditions"
|
Conditions 3(a) to
3(e) (inclusive) of Part A of Appendix
I;
|
"Regulatory Information
Service"
|
any information service authorised from time to
time by the FCA for the purpose of disseminating regulatory
announcements;
|
"Relevant Authority"
|
any central bank, ministry, governmental,
quasi-governmental, national, supranational (including the European
Union), statutory, regulatory, environmental, administrative,
supervisory, fiscal or investigative body or authority (including
any national or supranational antitrust, competition, merger
control or regulatory (including financial regulatory) authority,
any sectoral ministry or regulator and any foreign direct
investment review body), municipal or local government (including
any subdivision, court, administrative agency or commission or
other authority thereof) or any entity owned or controlled by them,
tribunal, court, private body exercising any regulatory, taxing,
importing, foreign investment or other authority or trade agency,
association, institution, employee representative body or any other
body (including any professional or environmental body) or person
whatsoever in any relevant jurisdiction, including the Panel and
the London Stock Exchange;
|
"Resolution"
|
the resolution to be proposed at the General
Meeting in connection with the implementation of the
Acquisition;
|
"Restricted Jurisdiction"
|
any jurisdiction where local laws or regulations
may result in a significant risk of civil, regulatory or criminal
exposure if information concerning the Acquisition is sent or made
available to LTG Shareholders;
|
"Rollover Investor"
|
any holder of Rollover Securities (excluding,
for the avoidance of doubt, General Atlantic);
|
"Rollover Investor Majority"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Rollover Mechanism"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
3 of Appendix IV;
|
"Rollover Ordinary Shares"
|
the Ordinary Shares ultimately issued to LTG
Shareholders who validly elect to receive some or all of the
consideration for their LTG Shares by means of an Alternative
Offer;
|
"Rollover Securities"
|
the Rollover Ordinary Shares and/or the B
Preference Shares available to LTG Shareholders under the relevant
Alternative Offer, in each case as applicable and as the context
requires;
|
"Sanction Hearing"
|
the hearing by the Court of the application to
sanction the Scheme under Part 26 of the Companies Act;
|
"Scaling Back"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"Scheme"
|
the proposed scheme of arrangement under Part 26
of the Companies Act between LTG and the LTG Shareholders in
connection with the Acquisition, with or subject to any
modification, addition or condition approved or imposed by the
Court and agreed by LTG and Bidco;
|
"Scheme Document"
|
the document to be sent to LTG Shareholders
containing, amongst other things, the Scheme and the notices
convening the Court Meeting and the General Meeting;
|
"Scheme Record Time"
|
the time and date to be specified as such in the
Scheme Document, expected to be 6.00 p.m. (London time) on the day
of the Sanction Hearing, or such other time as Bidco and LTG may
agree;
|
"SEC"
|
the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission;
|
"Significant Interest"
|
in relation to an undertaking, a direct or
indirect interest of 30 per cent. or more of the total voting
rights conferred by the equity share capital of such
undertaking;
|
"Substantial
Investor"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Tag-Along Seller"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Third Party"
|
each of a central bank, government or
governmental, quasi-governmental, supranational, statutory,
regulatory, environmental, administrative, fiscal or investigative
body, court, trade agency, association, institution, environmental
body, employee representative body or any other body or person
whatsoever in any jurisdiction;
|
"Topco"
|
Leopard Jersey Topco Limited;
|
"Topco Articles"
|
the articles of association of Topco (as amended
from time to time);
|
"Topco Board"
|
the board of directors of Topco, from time to
time;
|
"Topco Group"
|
Topco and its subsidiary undertakings from time
to time, including, for the avoidance of doubt, the Group with
effect from the Effective Date;
|
"Topco Shareholders'
Agreement"
|
the shareholders' agreement to be entered into
by the holders of securities of Topco;
|
"Topco Special Majority"
|
holders of 75 per cent. of the total number of
Ordinary Shares on a fully diluted basis (including the Warrants as
if they had all been exercised and converted into Ordinary Shares
in accordance with their terms at the relevant time);
|
"United Kingdom" or "UK"
|
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland;
|
"United States" or "U.S."
|
the United States of America, its territories
and possessions, any state of the United States of America, the
District of Columbia and all other areas subject to its
jurisdiction and any political sub-division thereof;
|
"Upfront Discount"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
5 of Appendix IV;
|
"Upfront Discount Amount"
|
the product of (3/100) * C, where C is the aggregate
Issue Price of the A1 Preference Shares (including, for the
avoidance of doubt, any A1 Preference Shares issued to General
Atlantic and/or its associates in connection with the Pre Approved
Funding) issued to General Atlantic and/or its associates on or
around the Effective Date;
|
"Upfront Discount A2 Preference
Shares"
|
such number of fully paid A2 Preference Shares
issued to General Atlantic for an aggregate subscription price
equal to the Upfront Discount Amount, provided that where the
resulting amount is not a whole number, the number of Upfront
Discount A2 Preference Shares shall be rounded down to the nearest
whole number;
|
"U.S. Exchange Act"
|
the United States Securities Exchange Act 1934
(as amended);
|
"U.S. Holder"
|
a holder of the applicable security who is
resident in the United States, where securities held of record by
persons resident in the United States shall be determined as
provided in Rule 12g5-1 of the U.S. Exchange Act, except that
securities held of record by a broker, dealer, bank or nominee for
any of them for the accounts of customers resident in the United
States shall be counted as held in the United States by the number
of separate accounts for which the securities are held;
|
"U.S. Holders Cap"
|
has the meaning given to it in paragraph
13;
|
"U.S. Person"
|
a U.S. person as defined in Regulation S under
the U.S. Securities Act and any nominee thereof;
|
"U.S. Securities Act"
|
the United States Securities Act of 1933 (as
amended);
|
"Warrant Instrument"
|
the warrant instrument to be executed by Topco
on or around the Effective Date constituting the
Warrants;
|
"Warrants"
|
the equity warrants of the Company constituted
by the Warrant Instrument, which are each exercisable at any time
with a US$0.001 exercise price and which shall, upon exercise and
payment of such exercise price and subject to the terms of the
Warrant Instrument, in respect of each Warrant entitle the warrant
holder to be allotted and issued a fully paid Ordinary Share which
shall rank pari passu in
all respects with the Ordinary Shares then in issue and
"Warrant" means any one of
them;
|
"Wider Bidco Group"
|
Bidco and associated undertakings and any other
body corporate, partnership, joint venture or person in which Bidco
and all such undertakings (aggregating their interests) have a
Significant Interest; and
|
"Wider Learning Technologies
Group"
|
LTG and associated undertakings and any other
body corporate, partnership, joint venture or person in which LTG
and such undertakings (aggregating their interests) have a
Significant Interest.
|
For the purposes of this Announcement,
"subsidiary", "subsidiary undertaking", "undertaking" and "associated undertaking" have the
respective meanings given thereto by the Companies Act.
All references to "sterling", "£", "pence" and "GBP" are to the lawful currency of the
United Kingdom.
All references to "US$", "USD" and "U.S. dollars" are to the lawful
currency of the United States.
All the times referred to in this Announcement
are London times unless otherwise stated.
References to the singular include the plural
and vice versa.