Results of Placing

RNS Number : 1532P

Provident Financial PLC

14 August 2014

 



THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN IT IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER STATE OR JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

14 August 2014

PROVIDENT FINANCIAL PLC

Results of Placing

Provident Financial plc (Provident or the Company) is pleased to announce the successful completion of the placing announced earlier today (the Placing).

A total of 5,911,330 new ordinary shares in Provident (the Placing Shares) have been placed by J.P. Morgan Securities plc, which conducts its UK investment banking activities as J.P. Morgan Cazenove (J.P. Morgan Cazenove) at a price of 2,030 pence per Placing Share, raising proceeds of approximately £120,000,000 (before expenses).

The Placing Shares will, when issued, be credited as fully paid and rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of 20^8/11 pence each in the capital of the Company, including the right to receive all future dividends and distributions declared, made or paid after the date of issue of the Placing Shares.

Applications will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange plc (together Admission). It is expected that Admission will take place at 8.00 a.m. on 19 August 2014 and that dealings in the Placing Shares will commence at the same time.

As part of the Placing, Invesco Ltd (Invesco) purchased 1,100,000 Placing Shares for a total consideration of £22,330,000. Invesco currently holds approximately 19.2 per cent. of the current issued share capital of the Company. The issue of Placing Shares to Invesco, which is a substantial shareholder of the Company under Chapter 11 of the Listing Rules, amounts to a smaller related party transaction as defined in Listing Rule 11.1.10.

Enquiries

PROVIDENT FINANCIAL PLC Media David Stevenson, Provident                                          + 44 (0) 1274 351 351 Simone Selzer, Brunswick Group                                  + 44 (0) 2074 045 959 Investor Relations Gary Thompson, Provident                                           + 44 (0) 1274 351 351 [e-mail] J.P. MORGAN CAZENOVE                                    [phone] Piers Davison Greg Chamberlain Kamalini Hull Charlie Walker

This announcement (the Announcement) and the information contained in it is restricted and is not for publication, release or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in, into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia, together the United States), Australia, Canada, Japan or South Africa or any other state or jurisdiction in which publication, release or distribution would be unlawful, restricted or unauthorised (each a Restricted Territory). This Announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or issue, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, acquire or subscribe for shares in the capital of the Company in any Restricted Territory or any other state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorised or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of such jurisdictions. Subject to certain exemptions, the securities referred to in this Announcement may not be offered or sold in any Restricted Territory or for the account or benefit of any national resident or citizen of any Restricted Territory. The Placing Shares have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act) or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered, sold or transferred, directly or indirectly, within the United States except pursuant to registration under the Securities Act or an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. The Placing Shares are being offered and sold in the United States only to a limited number of "qualified institutional buyers" (QIBs) in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act or another exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and are being offered and sold outside the United States in offshore transactions in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. No public offering of the shares referred to in this Announcement is being made in the United Kingdom, any Restricted Territory or elsewhere.

This Announcement has been issued by, and is the sole responsibility of the Company. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made as to, or in relation to, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by J.P. Morgan Cazenove or by any of its affiliates or agents as to or in relation to, the accuracy or completeness of this Announcement or any other written or oral information made available to or publicly available to any interested party or its advisers, and any liability therefore is expressly disclaimed.

J.P. Morgan Cazenove is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom. J.P. Morgan Cazenove is acting solely for the Company and no one else in connection with the Placing and it will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to its clients nor for providing advice in relation to the Placing and/or any other matter referred to in this Announcement. Apart from the responsibilities and liabilities, if any, which may be imposed on J.P. Morgan Cazenove by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or by the regulatory regime established under it, neither J.P. Morgan Cazenove nor any of its affiliates accepts any responsibility whatsoever for the contents of the information contained in this Announcement or for any other statement made or purported to be made by or on behalf of J.P. Morgan Cazenove or any of its affiliates in connection with the Company, the Placing Shares or the Placing. J.P. Morgan Cazenove and its affiliates accordingly disclaim all and any liability, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise (save as referred to above) in respect of any statements or other information contained in this Announcement and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made by J.P. Morgan Cazenove or any of its affiliates as to the accuracy, completeness or sufficiency of the information contained in this Announcement.

The distribution of this Announcement and the offering of the Placing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action has been taken by the Company or J.P. Morgan Cazenove that would permit an offering of such shares or possession or distribution of this Announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to such shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Persons into whose possession this Announcement comes are required by the Company and J.P. Morgan Cazenove to inform themselves about, and to observe, such restrictions.

The information in this Announcement may not be forwarded or distributed to any other person and may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever. Any forwarding, distribution, reproduction, or disclosure of this information in whole or in part is unauthorised. Failure to comply with this directive may result in a violation of the Securities Act or the applicable laws of other jurisdictions.

This Announcement contains (or may contain) certain forward-looking statements with respect to certain of the Company's current expectations and projections about future events. These statements, which sometimes use words such as "aim", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and words of similar meaning, reflect the directors' beliefs and expectations and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially from any expected future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statement. Statements contained in this Announcement regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The information contained in this Announcement is subject to change without notice and, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not assume any responsibility or obligation to update publicly or review any of the forward-looking statements contained in it. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Announcement. No statement in this Announcement is or is intended to be a profit forecast or profit estimate or to imply that the earnings of the Company for the current or future financial years will necessarily match or exceed the historical or published earnings of the Company. The price of shares and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested on disposal of the shares.

The Placing Shares to be issued pursuant to the Placing will not be admitted to trading on any stock exchange other than the London Stock Exchange.

Neither the content of the Company's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks on the Company's website is incorporated in, or forms part of, this Announcement.

 

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