TP ICAP plc (LON:TCAP) has launched a £315mln (US$427mln) rights issue, to enable the acquisition of ‘dark pool’ funding specialist Liquidnet Holdings.
The Liquidnet deal was announced in October and now ICAP provides details on the shareholder cash call that will partially fund the transaction.
Shareholders will receive two rights for every five shares they own, and, the offer price is pitched at 140p per new share.
The rights issue is expected to result in the issue of 225.33mln new shares which is equivalent to around 40% of the company’s existing issued share capital.
"I am delighted to announce this next planned step in our process to acquire Liquidnet,” said chief executive Nicolas Breteau.
“This acquisition is a unique opportunity to transform TP ICAP's growth prospects by materially accelerating our stated strategy of electronification, aggregation and diversification.
“We believe our two businesses are highly complementary and the deal, when completed, will help us to drive growth and shareholder value in the medium to long term."
ICAP also provided a trading update confirming that volumes continued to be subdued during much of Q4 2020.
It told investors that it expects revenue for the full year 2020 to be 1% lower than the prior year.
At Liquidnet, meanwhile, the performance is described as resilient and ICAP said the soon-to-be-added business is expected produce strong revenue performance compared with 2019.
Rights issue timeline
Publication of prospectus: January 7
Record date for entitlement: January 27
Issue of nil paid and fully paid rights: February 2
Deadline for nil paid settlement: February 15
Start of dealing in new ordinary shares: February 17