Curtis Banks fulfils regulatory requirements for takeover by Nucleus

7th Sep 2023 12:16

(Sharecast News) - Curtis Banks updated the market on its agreed acquisition by Nucleus Financial Platforms on Thursday, having first announced it on 6 January.

The AIM-traded firm said at the time that the acquisition would be implemented using a predetermined scheme, before publishing a scheme document by the end of January.

Following that, the necessary majority of scheme shareholders granted their approval for the scheme in a court meeting on 27 February, and after that, Curtis Banks shareholders approved the resolution that would set the scheme into motion at a general meeting.

The scheme and acquisition remained conditional on criteria specified in the scheme document, Curtis Banks said on Thursday.

A significant milestone in this acquisition process had been the approval from both the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Each of the regulatory bodies had given their green light to individuals who were set to either acquire or increase control over any member of the Curtis Banks Group, provided they were authorised by the PRA or the FCA.

That, the board said, satisfied two conditions highlighted in the scheme document.

In addition, Curtis Banks confirmed that the Solicitors Regulation Authority had provided its unconditional approval concerning individuals who would acquire a restricted interest in Rivergate Legal due to the acquisition.

That aligned with requirements of the Legal Services Act, and ensured the fulfilment of another condition of the scheme document.

Furthermore, the Competition and Markets Authority had provided clarity on the acquisition, confirming to Nucleus that there would be no reference to the acquisition under section 33 of the Enterprise Act.

That declaration, the firm said, satisfied a further condition in the scheme document.

With those approvals, all regulatory and antitrust conditions related to the acquisition had now been satisfied.

Curtis Banks said it intended to finalise the acquisition by seeking the court's sanction on 21 September, in a hearing scheduled at the Royal Courts of Justice.

"The acquisition remains subject to the other conditions including, amongst other things, the court sanctioning the scheme at the court sanction hearing, and the delivery of a copy of the court order to the Registrar of Companies," the board explained in its statement.

At 1439 BST, shares in Curtis Banks Group were up 5.15% at 347p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.