Proposed Placing

RNS Number : 1297L

Plus500 Limited

28 September 2016

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, ISRAEL OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH IT WOULD BE UNLAWFUL TO DO SO. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

Plus500 Limited

("Plus500" or "the Company")

Proposed Placing of up to 15,500,000 Existing Ordinary Shares in Plus500

Plus500, a leading online trading platform provider for retail customers to trade CFDs internationally, announces that the founders of the Company, Alon Gonen¹, Gal Haber², Elad Ben-Izhak³, Omer Elazari and  Shlomi Weizmann (the "Founders") have notified Plus500 that they intend to sell in aggregate up to 15,500,000 existing ordinary shares (the "Placing Shares") in the capital of the Company. The Placing Shares represent approximately 13% of the Company's issued share capital.

The sale of the Placing Shares will be effected by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors (the "Placing") and will be launched immediately following this announcement. Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co KG ("Berenberg") and Liberum Capital Limited ("Liberum") are acting as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners in connection with the Placing. The timing for the close of the bookbuild process and the distribution of allocations shall be at the absolute discretion of Berenberg and Liberum. The final number of Placing Shares to be placed and the price for such Placing Shares will be agreed by Berenberg, Liberum and the Founders at the close of the bookbuild process and the results of the Placing will be announced as soon as practicable thereafter. The Founders reserve the right to sell a greater or lesser number of Placing Shares through the Placing.

The Company is not a party to the Placing and will not receive any proceeds from the Placing.

Assuming all the Placing Shares are sold, after completion of the Placing, the Founders will continue to hold in aggregate approximately 22% of the issued share capital of the Company. The Founders intention to sell reflects their desire to diversify their investments whilst raising funds for personal reasons.   

The Placing Shares, in all respects, rank pari passu with the Company's ordinary shares.

The Founders have agreed with Berenberg and Liberum not to sell any further ordinary shares they hold in the capital of the Company for a period of 90 days after completion of the Placing.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 ("MAR").

⁽¹⁾ The shares are registered in the name of Sparta24 Ltd.

⁽²⁾ The shares are registered in the name of Wavesoft Ltd.

⁽³⁾ The shares are registered in the name of Smarty Ltd.

For further details:

Plus500 Ltd

Elad Even-Chen, Chief Financial Officer

[e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

Liberum - Nomad, Joint global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner

Clayton Bush, Josh Hughes

www.liberum.com

Tel: [phone]

Berenberg - Joint global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner

Chris Bowman, Amritha Murali, Toby Flaux

www.berenberg.de/en

Tel: [phone]

MHP Communications

Reg Hoare, Tim Rowntree, Kelsey Traynor

[e-mail]

Tel: [phone]

Important Notice:

MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO TAKE PART IN THE PLACING. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY OFFER OF SECURITIES TO WHICH IT RELATES ARE ONLY ADDRESSED TO AND DIRECTED AT (1) IN ANY MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA, PERSONS WHO ARE QUALIFIED INVESTORS WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 2(1)(E) OF EU DIRECTIVE 2003/71/EC AND ANY RELEVANT IMPLEMENTING MEASURES (THE "PROSPECTUS DIRECTIVE"); (2) IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, PERSONS WHO (I) HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN MATTERS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS WHO FALL WITHIN ARTICLE 19(5) OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (FINANCIAL PROMOTION) ORDER 2005 (AS AMENDED) (THE "ORDER"); OR (II) FALL WITHIN ARTICLE 49(2)(A) TO (D) OF THE ORDER OR (III) ARE PERSONS TO WHOM AN OFFER OF THE PLACING SHARES MAY OTHERWISE LAWFULLY BE MADE; AND (3) IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO ANY US PERSONS (AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN REGULATION S ("REGULATION S") UNDER THE US SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "SECURITIES ACT")), TO QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS AS DEFINED IN RULE 144A UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT  WHO ARE ALSO "QUALIFIED PURCHASERS" AS DEFINED IN THE US INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940, AS AMENDED (ALL SUCH PERSONS REFERRED TO IN (1), (2) AND (3) TOGETHER BEING REFERRED TO AS "RELEVANT PERSONS"). THE INFORMATION REGARDING THE PLACING SET OUT IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MUST NOT BE ACTED ON OR RELIED ON BY PERSONS WHO ARE NOT RELEVANT PERSONS. ANY INVESTMENT OR INVESTMENT ACTIVITY TO WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES IS AVAILABLE ONLY TO RELEVANT PERSONS AND WILL BE ENGAGED IN ONLY WITH RELEVANT PERSONS.

This announcement and the information contained herein is for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of securities in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan or Israel or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or invitation is unlawful.

The Placing Shares have not been, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and, absent registration, may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, US Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and the securities laws of any relevant state or other jurisdiction of the United States. There will be no public offering of the Placing Shares in the United States or elsewhere.  Any offers and sales of the Placing Shares to US persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act) will be made only to persons who are "qualified institutional buyers" as defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act who are also "qualified purchasers" as defined in the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.

The Placing Shares have not been approved or disapproved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities commission or other regulatory authority in the United States, nor have any of the foregoing authorities passed upon or endorsed the merits of the Placing or the accuracy or adequacy of this announcement. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence in the United States.

No prospectus or offering document has been or will be prepared in connection with the Placing. Any investment decision to buy securities in the Placing must be made solely on the basis of publicly available information. Such information is not the responsibility of and has not been independently verified by Plus500, the Founders, Liberum ,Berenberg or any of their respective affiliates.

Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, in or into or from the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia), Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan or Israel. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of United States, Canadian, Australian, South African or Japanese securities laws.

The distribution of this announcement and the offering or sale of the Placing Shares in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action has been taken by Plus500, the Founders, Liberum, Berenberg or any of their respective affiliates that would, or which is intended to, permit a public offer of the Placing Shares in any jurisdiction or possession or distribution of this announcement or any other offering or publicity material relating to the Placing Shares in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required by Plus500, the Founders , Liberum and Berenberg to inform themselves about and to observe any applicable restrictions.

Liberum and Berenberg, both of which are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, are acting only for the Founders in connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Founders for providing the protections offered to the clients of Liberum or Berenberg, nor for providing advice in relation to the Placing or any matters referred to in this announcement.

 

END

 

 

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