Octagonal (LON:OCT) – CORP: Acquisition
Market Cap: £2.2m; Current Price: 0.185p
Proposed acquisition and board changes; fundraising
- Octagonal has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the outstanding issued share capital of Global Investment Strategy (GIS) that it does not currently own – Octagonal has a 9.97% stake. Octagonal has also raised £1.7m (gross) that will be used to part fund the acquisition and for general working capital. The consideration is £1.5m in cash and the issue of 336.1m shares.
- The acquisition is in line with Octagonal’s investing policy but will constitute a reverse takeover and hence the directors are seeking shareholder approval. Should the acquisition complete, the enlarged company will become a financial services company providing primarily settlement and safe custody services to smaller institutional funds, family wealth offices and high net worth investors. GIS currently transacts for more than 600 clients with an average of more than 6,000 transactions per month with quarterly settlement values >£2bn.
- In April, GIS provided a quarterly update with a 55.9% increase in settlement values to $6.3bn and a 32.7% increase in total settled transactions to 23,000. Assets under management were $20m as at 31st March.
- In conjunction with the acquisition the company proposes to change the board with Grant Roberts (Chairman), John Gunn (CEO), Nilesh Jagatia (Finance Director) and Martin Davison (NED). The company is also proposing and 1 for 11 share consolidation.
- Beaumont Cornish has been appointed as Nomad and broker with immediate effect. Northland Capital Partners will be appointed as Broker on completion of the acquisition. Implementation is subject to the GM on 29th June.
MediaZest (LON:MDZ) – CORP: Award
Market Cap: £2.9m; Current Price: 0.275p
From yesterday: Wins Retail Week award
- MediaZest has been awarded the Digital Store of the Year Award along with Dalziel and Pow at the recent BT Retail Week Tech & Ecommerce Awards for their work on the Rockar Hyundai dealiership at the Bluewater Shopping Centre, that was completed in November 2014.
- According to an article in AutoExpress, the showroom has recorded 100,000 visitors in its first six months with c. 1,000 sales predicted in total in 2015. The showroom has moved away from the traditional salesperson-led approach with touchscreen and digital devices that let customers browse, test drive, sell their car and buy a new one with no interaction with sales staff.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: MediaZest is a highly experienced and innovative provider of AV equipment and awards such as these help to raise its profile in the market. As previously argued, retailers are investing in their stores in order to enhance the shopping experience and compete against online only retailers.
Power Capital Global (LON:PCGB) – CORP: Cessation of business; suspension
Suspended
Cessation of business and proposed adoption of investing policy
- The Board has not detected any improvement in market conditions for its Asia-based natural resources trading and logistics business since the strategic review last September and considers there is little prospect of an improvement in the foreseeable future. As a result, it has decided to exit this business with immediate effect.
- With the cessation of its trading business, Power Capital is deemed to have become an investing company and will seek a GM in due course to adopt an investing policy to make investments in the gaming, leisure, entertainment, gambling and associated financial product sectors in Asia.
- Power Capital had cash resources of less than £20k at the end of April and although it believes it is able to pay its liabilities given the loan facility with Kolarmy Technology (c. $2m) it needs to increase its cash resources in order to make investments. As part of this strategy, it will look to realise the $1.8m of trade receivables from PT Perdana Maju Utama, the counterparty of its offtake agreement on coal, and its minority investment in Asia Pacific Investment Partners Limited that is looking to list. There is no certainty on the timing of these realisations and the board will look to raise additional funds in the next few month.
- Given the company’s current inability to implement its investing policy, the board has requested a suspension in its shares pending a reverse takeover or securing additional funds.