Completion of acquisition
Inspace Plc
01 September 2006
Press Release 1 September 2006
Inspace plc
('Inspace' or 'the Company')
Completion of acquisition
Directorate Change
Holding in Company
Inspace plc (AIM:INSP), one of the UK's leading specialist service providers to
the social housing market, is pleased to announce the successful completion of
the acquisition of Widacre Limited ('Widacre'). The final consideration is
£57.8 million based on the closing mid-price of 100.5p per share as at 31 August
2006. Application has been made for the 13,201,320 Consideration Shares to be
admitted to AiM and admission is expected to become effective at 8.00 a.m. on 8
September 2006. The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu in all respects
with the existing Ordinary Shares in issue.
Commenting on the completion of the acquisition of Widacre, Andrew Telfer, Chief
Financial Officer of Inspace plc, said: 'This acquisition now positions Inspace
as one of the UK's only specialist support service providers able to meet the
needs of UK social housing landlords through a fully integrated repair and
maintenance, stock reinvestment and new build service. The acquisition
substantially increases Inspace's earnings visibility and, importantly,
complements our existing customer support by delivering new build contracts
through open-book partnered and cost-plus relationships. Overall, we believe
that the Company is now very well placed to take advantage of central government
policies relating to the delivery and funding of social housing projects.'
The Company is also pleased to announce today the appointment of Chris Durkin as
a director and Chief Operating Officer of its Social and Affordable Housing
divisions with immediate effect. Chris has twenty five years of relevant
experience having joined Willmott Dixon as a management trainee in 1981. He has
specialised in social housing since 1990, during which time he has held a
variety of senior executive roles, including managing director of Willmott
Dixon's social housing subsidiaries. In 1999, he was appointed Chief Operating
Officer of Willmott Dixon's social house building division, and oversaw its
expansion into affordable housing. He has been instrumental in the strategic
and operational development of the acquired businesses. Chris Durkin is a
Member of the Chartered Institute of Building and was elected to the Board of
The Housing Forum.
On the appointment of Chris Durkin to the Board of Inspace plc, Andrew Telfer
added: 'We are delighted to welcome Chris to the Board as he has significant
experience and industry knowledge and is seen as a key figure in the future
growth and development of our Social and Affordable Housing interests.'
Christopher Simon Durkin, aged 43, holds the following directorships:
Willmott Dixon Housing Limited
Widacre Limited
Widacre Homes Limited
Widacre Homes (Pershore) Limited
Tredegar Development Company Limited
T3B Development Company Limited
Widacre Lifespace Limited (formerly Circle 33 Widacre Homes Limited)
Ashvale Court (Tredegar) Management Limited
Bevan Court (Tredegar) Management Limited
Garway Court (Tredegar) Management Limited
Heathfield Court (Tredegar) Management Limited
Priory Court (Pershore) Management Limited
Own Space Homes Limited
Key London Alliance Limited
There is no other information that requires disclosure under Schedule 2
paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules.
Following the completion of the acquisition of Widacre, the Company has been
informed by the following shareholders of their interest in the enlarged issued
share capital of Inspace:
Consideration shares Number of ordinary % of enlarged
shares now held issued share
capital
Willmott Dixon Limited 11,220,087 18,016,129 22.24
Mr CS Durkin 82,343 422,163 0.52
Mr C Enticknap 140,704 4,403,369 5.44
Mr RJ Willmott 140,704 6,019,239 7.43
The Board of Inspace understands that Willmott Dixon Limited is putting in place
arrangements to distribute in specie to the shareholders of Willmott Dixon
Limited around 9.5 million consideration shares it received as part of the
acquisition of Widacre. The shareholders of Willmott Dixon Limited would be
subject to the same lock-in provisions on the consideration shares as entered
into by Willmott Dixon Limited.
- Ends -
For further information:
Inspace plc
Andrew Telfer, Chief Financial Officer Tel: +44 (0) 1462 678 910
andrew.telfer@inspace.co.uk www.inspace.co.uk
Seymour Pierce
Mark Percy, Corporate Finance Tel: +44 (0) 20 7107 8000
markpercy@seymourpierce.com www.seymourpierce.com
Media enquiries:
Abchurch
Henry Harrison-Topham Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7700
henry.ht@abchurch-group.com www.abchurch-group.com
Notes to editors:
Inspace plc is a property based support services group, and one of the UK's
leading specialist service providers to the social housing market.
Subsequent to the completed acquisition of Widacre Limited on 31 August 2006,
Inspace now has three complementary areas of activity: Social Housing,
Affordable Housing and Corporate Assets.
Social Housing - creating and maintaining sustainable homes
The division is one of the UK's leading specialist support service providers to
social housing landlords through long term framework contracts. Its services
comprise major 'repair and maintenance', 'stock reinvestment' and new build
programmes for local authorities, Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO)
and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs).
Total spending on social housing is currently around £14 billion per annum, of
which around £10.3 billion is spent on repair, maintenance and improvement. Of
this, £4 billion is spent on ongoing repair and maintenance, with the remaining
£6 billion being spent on capital projects such as major refurbishment and
improvement. This includes a contribution of between £1 billion and £2 billion
a year from the Decent Homes initiative. The provision of new housing, which is
currently running at around 35,000 units a year, adds a further £3.5 billion to
this sum.
Affordable Housing - developing integrated communities
The Affordable Housing division specialises in the provision of low cost homes
for sale in partnership with RSLs, usually alongside social housing built by the
Social Housing division, as part of more extensive mixed tenure schemes. It has
already established a number of joint venture companies with RSLs and through
its involvement in the Key London Alliance consortium, has been appointed to
provide mixed tenure developments under the Government's London Wide Initiative.
Corporate Assets - improving and maintaining public and private real estate
The Corporate Assets division provides a comprehensive repair, maintenance,
capital works and interior design service across public and private sector
non-residential real estate. It delivers 24/7 integrated maintenance services
across England, Scotland and Wales through its national network of branches and
'home based' mobile engineers. Its specialist design-led service offers
customers an integrated interior design, installation and furnishing 'one stop'
solution.
Further information on Inspace can be found at www.inspace.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange