The founders of Plus500, which has become one of the most successful IPO’s in the brokerage industry, are preparing to offload a big chunk of shares to institutional investors. The retail foreign Exchange and CFDs trading provider has issued an official announcement on the matter via the London Stock Exchange .
the total amount of the sale could amount to over £110 million
Together, Alon Gonen (with shares registered in the name Sparts24 Ltd), Gal Haber (Wavesoft Ltd), Elad Ben-Izhak (Smarty Ltd), Omer Elazari and Shlomi Weizmann have notified the firm that they intend to offload a total of 15,500,000 existing ordinary shares of the firm’s issued capital.
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The sale will be conducted via a placement of shares that will take place immediately after the announcement.
The current price per share is about 750 pence, which is just below the company’s all-time record highs set last year, before the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reprimanded the firm about its onboarding procedures and caused a panic selloff when the firm lost close to three quarters of its value.
Typically when similar announcements are made, the shares are traded at a discount to the market price. Should we take into account a value that is 5 per cent lower than current market prices, the total amount of the sale could amount to over £110 million ($143 million).
Plus500 share price moves since IPO in the summer of 2013, Source: Google Finance
Institutional Investors Most Likely Buyers
The sale of the placement will be executed by way of an accelerated bookbuild to institutional investors. The joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners are Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co KG and Liberum Capital Limited.
One of the company's biggest investors is the fund Odey Asset Management, a company that has been briskly opposing the takeover deal with Playtech which ultimately wasn't concluded due to lack of approval from the U.K FCA and the Central Bank of Ireland.
The final number of shares sold at the placement and the price are going to be announced after the conclusion of the sale. Plus500 is not a party to this transaction and will not be receiving any proceeds from the sale.
After the deal the founders of the company will continue holding a substantial stake with about 22 per cent of the total shares of Plus500. They have also agreed to refrain from selling additional shares for three months.
According to the official announcement filed with the LSE: “The Founders’ intention to sell reflects their desire to diversify their investments whilst raising funds for personal reasons.”
