Interactive investor agrees terms to acquire The Share Centre
Both ii and Share plc are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on a recommended offer.
17th February 2020 09:33
by Jemma Jackson from interactive investor
The Boards of interactive investor/ ii Group (ii) and Share plc (brand name The Share Centre) are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer to combine their businesses.
Under the offer, ii intends to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Share plc, subject to shareholder, regulatory and legal approvals.
ii believes that direct to consumer platforms require scale to sustain the level of profitability necessary for significant and ongoing technology investment in customer experience and services. Therefore, there is a strong strategic rationale for consolidation among compatible groups.
ii and Share plc have common beliefs and values and ii strongly believes in both business’ complementary strengths and in the strategic rationale for the Offer, which would benefit shareholders and customers of both the ii Group and Share plc. ii and Share plc believe that a combination of the two businesses would create a group of greater scale and capability to grow and thrive and to best serve its customers in an increasingly technology-driven and competitive environment.
The Offer is intended to enable Share plc to become part of an organisation which, when combined with the ii Group, will have the scale to accelerate the delivery of a shared strategic vision, transforming the personal investor landscape.
Commenting on the Offer, Richard Wilson, CEO of ii, said: “We are delighted with this transaction. The firms’ shared values and combined strengths reinforce ii’s position as a leader in the retail investment services marketplace. With our fair flat fees we have built a strong and compelling alternative to percentage fees, in a business that puts the customer first.
“Combining our individual strengths brings further scale and the opportunity to deliver enhanced value, service and customer experience to an enlarged customer base.
“Our purpose is to help customers take direct control of their financial future, providing tools and support to make informed investing decisions. This transaction contributes significantly to that goal.”
Commenting on the Offer, Gavin Oldham OBE, Executive Chairman of Share plc said: "I am delighted to welcome this combination of our businesses, designed to transform the prospects for individual share ownership and personal investment across the United Kingdom. Our shareowners, employees and customers are well aware of my passion for egalitarian capitalism, not only right across society but also across generations. It delivers the economic freedom that comes from having a personal reserve of savings and investment, and a society at ease with itself: as owners, employees and consumers combine ownership with a responsibility for all.
“At our Annual General Meeting in June 2019, I spoke of our major strategic ambition to transform Share plc’s business over the coming years. We have to grow significantly in order to achieve this, not only in profitability but also in scale and in substance. That is why we have been prepared to investigate how others, who share our ambition for a more egalitarian form of capitalism, would work with us in order to achieve it. With our prospective new colleagues in ii we have discovered just such a meeting of minds, and a shared purpose for the future."
The ii Group is an award-winning online investment service that has been informing investors for more than 20 years and is the UK's second largest direct to consumer investment platform. The ii Group provides independent financial information as well as the content and tools investors need to make confident and informed investment decisions.
The ii Group currently has more than £30 billion of assets under administration, over 300,000 customers and more than one million users.
ii and Share plc believe that the ii Group offers a high quality home for The Share Centre Limited’s customers. ii has an established track record of integrating complementary firms on-time with minimal customer impact and investing significantly in the resulting enlarged enterprise.
In June 2019, the ii Group completed the acquisition of Alliance Trust Savings, reinforcing its position as a leading market challenger in the UK direct-to-consumer marketplace and supporting the ii Group’s sustained investment in technology and talent.
In order to realise certain synergy benefits of the Offer, ii intends to migrate The Share Centre Limited’s customers to the ii Group’s main trading company, Interactive Investor Services Limited. Following the transfer, The Share Centre Limited’s customers will have access to a broader set of investment products at competitive price points in the direct to consumer market, market leading access to international markets and foreign exchange, and access to ii Group’s award-winning editorial content.
These comments should be read in conjunction with the full text of the RNS announcement 2.7 (including the Appendices).
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