REG - B.P. Marsh &Partners - Completion of Sale and Dividend Declaration

B.P. Marsh & PartnersAnnouncement

25/03/2024 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20240325:nRSY0592Ia&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 0592I  B.P. Marsh & Partners PLC  25 March 2024

25 March 2024

 

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

("B.P. Marsh", "the Company" or "the Group")

 

Completion of Sale of Paladin Holdings Limited,

parent company of CBC UK Limited

Dividend Declaration

 

Further to the announcement on 7 December 2023, B.P. Marsh and Partners Plc
(AIM:BPM), the specialist private equity investor in early stage financial
services businesses, is pleased to confirm that the sale of its entire
shareholding in Paladin Holdings Limited ("Paladin"), the holding company of
CBC UK Limited ("CBC"), has now completed.

 

Highlights:

·    £42.1m (net of transaction costs) initial cash consideration
received from the disposal of the Group's 43.8% holding in Paladin

·    Internal rate of return to B.P. Marsh of 44% (inclusive of all income
and fees) based on initial consideration

·    Repayment to the Group of £5.9m outstanding loans to Paladin

·    £11.5m uplift (38%) from £30.53m valuation as at 31 July 2023

·    Potential for £17.8m further consideration if Paladin achieves
defined hurdles

·    Net equity investment of £3.5k

 

Additional information

 

As well as the initial consideration on completion and prior to calculation of
the deferred consideration, the Company will also be entitled to receive its
proportion of any net working capital adjustment, expected to be finalised
within three months of completion.

 

The Company has also entered into a two year £6m loan facility with Alchemy
Underwriting Limited, an entity that was owned 22.5% by Paladin, in order to
assist its management team with a Management Buy Out as part of the overall
transaction.

 

Jon Newman, the Company's Finance Director and Nominee Director on the Boards
of Paladin and CBC, has resigned from his Director roles at Paladin and CBC.

 

The investment, development and subsequent sale of the Group's holding in
Paladin demonstrates B.P. Marsh's established strategy of partnering with
entrepreneurial management teams to assist their growth prior to reaching a
management-led exit in a time frame that suits all parties.

 

Jon Newman commented: "This completed disposal is a further illustration of
the success of the B.P. Marsh investment model that depends on our tried and
tested experience and judgement as well as our strategy of wholly aligning our
interests with those of management over the long term."

"B.P. Marsh wishes the whole team at CBC all the very best for the next
chapter in their growth and development in partnership with Specialist Risk
Group."

Use of Proceeds

 

Further to the announcement on 23 January 2024, now that completion has taken
place, the Company can hereby confirm its intention to increase the annual
dividend allocation from £2m to a total of £4m in each year for the next
three years, with payments commencing in the financial year beginning 1
February 2024, equating to distributions of up to £12m in total over the
period to 31 January 2027.

In regard to the current Financial Year which began on 1 February 2024, the
Board can now declare that an interim dividend of 2.68p per share, or £1m in
the aggregate, will be paid on 3 May 2024. All shareholders on the Register as
at 5 April 2024 will receive their pro-rata share of this distribution.

 

This will be in addition to the £1m dividend already paid on 18 March 2024.

 

A further £2m dividend distribution will be declared as payable in August
2024, subject to Shareholder Approval. Altogether these will equate to a total
dividend distribution of £4m to shareholders in the current Financial Year,
ending on 31 January 2025.

 

For further
information:

 

 B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc                            www.bpmarsh.co.uk (http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/)
 Brian Marsh OBE                                      +44 (0)20 7233 3112

 Nominated Adviser & Broker

 Panmure Gordon
 Atholl Tweedie / Amrit Mahbubani / Ailsa MacMaster   +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 Financial PR & Investor Relations
 Tavistock                                            bpmarsh@tavistock.co.uk
 Simon Hudson / Tim Pearson / Katie Hopkins           +44 (0)20 7920 3150

 

Notes to Editors:

B.P. Marsh's current portfolio contains fourteen companies. More detailed
descriptions of the portfolio can be found at www.bpmarsh.co.uk
(http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/) .

 

Since formation over 30 years ago, the Company has assembled a management team
with considerable experience both in the financial services sector and in
managing private equity investments. Many of the directors have worked with
each other in previous roles, and all have worked with each other for over ten
years.

 

- Ends -

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  MSCSEUESLELSEID