REG-Castelnau Group Ltd: Dignity Acquires Farewill

CastelnauAnnouncement

17/10/2024 07:15

17 October 2024

Castelnau Group plc

("Castelnau" or the "Group")

DIGNITY ACQUIRES FAREWILL

Castelnau is pleased to announce that Dignity, the leading end-of-life service
provider in the UK, is acquiring Farewill Limited ("Farewill"), an
award-winning leader in digital end-of-life services. This transaction has
important strategic benefits for both companies, allowing them to combine
their strengths and continue to serve their distinct customer bases,
collectively reinforcing Dignity's position as the UK's largest and most
comprehensive end-of-life service provider.

Farewill, founded in 2015 by Dan Garrett (its current CEO) and Tom Rogers,
offers a range of later-life products, including wills, probate, at-need
funerals, and pre-paid funeral plans. Recognised as the "National Will Writing
Firm of the Year" four times and as the "Consumer Business of the Year",
Farewill has helped raise £1.1 billion in pledges to charitable
organisations.

The acquisition will allow Dignity to broaden its audience, enhance customer
experience, expand its product offering, modernise its technology
infrastructure, and further strengthen its talent pool. Farewill also brings
an established will and probate bank and a well-established brand, enabling
Dignity to engage with potential customers earlier in their later-life
planning journey.

Farewill is being acquired for an enterprise value of £12.9 million. The
acquisition will be financed through a share-for-share exchange, with the
majority of Farewill shareholders becoming Castelnau shareholders. In
exchange, Castelnau will increase its holding in Valderrama Limited (the joint
venture with Sir Peter Wood's SPWOne Limited through which Castelnau holds its
stake in Dignity). To fund its share of the acquisition, Castelnau expects to
issue approximately 9.6 million shares based on an issue price of 99p per
share.

Subject to the successful completion of the transaction, Castelnau will
increase its ownership of Valderrama by 5.6 million shares to 199.9 million
shares, representing 66.0% of Valderrama's issued share capital.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to FCA approval and is not expected
to occur before 1 January 2025. An announcement will be made in due course
confirming the final number of Castelnau Group shares issued in relation to
the transaction.

Richard Brown, CEO of Castelnau, commented: "The addition of Farewill to
Dignity's offering embodies Castelnau's strategic ambitions for Dignity,
helping Dignity to drive its digital transformation and serve its customers
even better. Adding Farewill's will and probate services to Dignity's current
offerings will expand Dignity's touchpoints with customers throughout their
entire `end-of-life' journey. We are pleased the structuring of the
transaction has also allowed us to increase our ownership in Dignity, a
business where we continue to see a significant value-creation opportunity."

Dan Garrett, CEO of Farewill, added: "At Farewill, our mission has always
been to make the end-of-life experience as straightforward and stress-free as
possible. Joining forces with Dignity allows us to stay true to that mission
while benefiting from the experience and resources of a company that has been
a trusted name for generations. Farewill will continue to operate
independently, with our own brand and focus, serving a growing audience that
values the convenience and transparency of our services - alongside
contributing to the group as we explore ways of improving every customers'
experience."

  Enquiries:

 Castelnau Group                     
 Richard Brown                       
 info@castelnaugroup.com             
                                     
 Phoenix Asset Management Limited    
 +44 (0) 208 600 0100                
 Gary Channon                        
 Steve Tatters                       
 Gina Bocek                          
                                     
 Citigate Dewe Rogerson              
 +44 (0) 20 7638 9571                
 Caroline Merrell                    
 Toby Moore                          

 

 

 



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