Silverwood Brands PLC (AQSE:SLWD) said it received a notification that cosmetics company Lush has declined to record the transfer of the 19.8% Lush stake that Silverwood agreed to acquire in December last year.
According to a statement from the investment company, Lush failed to disclose any reason for rejecting the £216.8mln acquisition, payable in Silverwood shares, which Silverwood agreed with former Lush chief executive Andrew Gerrie, who is now an executive director at Silverwood.
Silverwood said it is "disappointed" by Lush's decision to not transfer the shares to Silverwood subsidiary Cosmic Circles.
Together with its legal advisers, the company is seeking to engage with Lush and its solicitors to resolve the current situation.
“As a purported arbiter of fairness, ethics, and champion of environmental, social and governance issues, the company is surprised that Lush is behaving in this manner and expects that ultimately it will stand by their ethos and avoid potentially prejudicing minority interests,” a statement said.
A deal was announced on 12 December between Silverwood and Gerrie and his wife, Alison Hawksley.
The total consideration for the acquisition of Lush shares amounted to roughly £216.8mln and was to be satisfied with the issue of 228,212,632 Silverwood shares at the price of 95p per share.
According to the December statement, the consideration price is the applicable minimum price that the Lush vendors, in this case, Gerrie and Hawksley, can sell share shares in accordance with Lush's articles of association.