Britain's MJ Hudson to sell remaining operating units in 40 mln pound deal (updated)

MJ Hudson

11/04/2023 09:14

(Updates with details of deal, background on audit issues)
       LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Britain's MJ Hudson  MJH.L 
said on Tuesday it had agreed to sell its data & analytics, and
business outsourcing units for 40 million pounds ($49.70
million) to financial services provider Apex Group.
    The deal to sell the remaining operating units of MJ Hudson,
a consulting services provider to asset managers, comes after
months of audit woes, during which the company suspended its CFO
Peter Connell in December and its CEO Matthew Hudson resigned
after auditor EY quit over 'lost trust' in February.
    The company has delayed publishing its 2022 annual report
and accounts, and its interim results due to the ongoing audit
after discrepancies in its finances were found last year.
    MJ Hudson plans to seek shareholder approval for the deal on
May 3, it said, adding, it would not have sufficient funds to
continue operations if the deal failed.
    A majority of the consideration from the sale will be used
to repay debt owed to its senior lender Santander UK, MJ Hudson
said but it was highly unlikely that there would be any money
left for shareholders after paying all creditors and costs, it
added.
    MJ Hudson's management company services in Ireland and
Luxembourg will add about 80 billion euros ($87 billion) of
assets under management to Apex Group's existing European
management company offering, Apex Group said in a separate
statement.      
    MJ Hudson said it intends to give notice to Britain's
Solicitors Regulation Authority for the proposed closure of its
legal business. 
    It had not made long-term decisions about the company, it
added
    The company, whose shares have been suspended from trading
since December, also said it was seeking shareholders' approval
to cancel the admission of its ordinary shares in a London Stock
Exchange sub-market and had notified the exchange of the proposed
cancellation.
    
    
    
($1 = 0.9184 euros)

($1 = 0.8048 pounds)
    

 (Reporting by Huw Jones in London, Chandini Monnappa and
Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((Chandini.M@thomsonreuters.com; +918061822697;))