Liberum acted as Financial Adviser and Sole Bookrunner to Castelnau Group Ltd
Liberum acted as financial adviser and sole bookrunner to Castelnau on a placing of £56.6 million, in connection to the recommended cash offer for Dignity plc.
We are pleased to announce that Liberum has acted as sole financial adviser and bookrunner to Castelnau Group Limited (“Castelnau”) on its successful placing of £56.6m to raise proceeds for the Company’s funding of the recommended cash offer for Dignity plc (“Dignity”). A further £45m of new shares are also being issued in connection to the takeover.
Castelnau is a listed investment company with a market cap of £138m that IPO’d onto the Specialist Fund Segment in October 2021. It targets a minimum absolute return of 20% per annum. Its strategy is to apply modern techniques to traditional businesses, which it owns, controls or influences, to create sustainable long-term value. Castelnau is externally managed by Phoenix Asset Management (PAMP), who have AuM of £1.2bn and are led by Gary Channon.
The placing was undertaken in connection to the recommended cash offer for Dignity plc at 550 pence per share (valuing the equity of Dignity at £281m with an EV of £789m) that was declared unconditional on 19 April 2023. Castelnau was part of a bidding consortium that included PAMP and SPWOne Limited, the investment vehicle of Sir Peter Wood. Sir Peter is a serial entrepreneur, having founded seven companies in the UK, Europe and US. These include Direct Line, esure and Gocompare.com.
In addition to the cash offer, Dignity shareholders were able to elect to roll their Dignity investment into new Castelnau shares, with approximately £20m by value of new CGL shares issued to investors that took this election. A further £25m of new shares are also being issued to PAMP affiliates in exchange for their Dignity Shares.
This is a transformational deal for Castelnau and will significantly increase the market cap of the Company. Investors now also have exposure to Dignity as a private company, under the control of the combined expertise of Gary Channon and Sir Peter Wood.
Liberum provided financial advice to the Company in respect of the issue of new shares, as well as being the sole bookrunner for the deal.
Liberum Team
Investment Banking - Darren Vickers, Owen Matthews, Will King
Board - Shane Le Provost
Sales - UK and Alternative Fund Sales
Legal - Rebecca Gordon
Compliance - Harriet Blackie
