Hunters acted for Helios Underwriting plc (AIM: HUW), a company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), on a tender offer to distribute up to £7.3 million to its shareholders.
Helios Underwriting is the only publicly traded company offering instant access to a diverse portfolio of syndicates at Lloyd's of London, the world's largest insurance market. Following strong results over recent years, and good underwriting conditions in the Lloyd's market, Helios decided to make a distribution to its shareholders by way of a tender offer (a form of share buyback).
Like many UK listed companies, Helios has a wide international shareholder base, including US shareholders. Unlike in the US, where a buy-back is treated and implemented as a simple capital transaction, buy-backs in the UK often have to be structured as a tender offer (whereby an appointed intermediary purchases the shares from the shareholders, before the company repurchases the tendered shares from the intermediary) to obtain optimal tax treatment. The additional costs and processes involved in this structure are perhaps an example of how UK markets need to adjust to remain competitive on the international stage.
The Hunters team was led by David Wilson (Partner) and assisted by Fred Taucher (Trainee Solicitor).
The Corporate and Commercial team also recently advised EARNZ plc, another AIM-listed company, on its share placing and acquisition.