Further progress has been made in DWS’ acquisition of Stagecoach, with an acceptance of the offer received in respect of the 80,167,309 Stagecoach Shares attributed to Sir Brian Souter. By midday on 26 May DWS had acquired, or agreed to acquire, 459,423,863 Stagecoach shares representing approximately 81.75% of the voting rights exercisable at a general meeting of Stagecoach.
Having exceeded the required 75%, DWS will apply to the FCA and London Stock Exchange respectively to cancel the listing and trading of the Stagecoach shares, which is expected to take effect no earlier than 0800hrs on 27 June.
The move comes with a warning to remaining shareholders that delisting will significantly reduce the liquidity and marketability of any Stagecoach shares in respect of which the offer has not been accepted at that time, and the reporting and disclosure requirements will be significantly reduced; any remaining Stagecoach shareholders will become minority shareholders in a majority controlled company and may be unable to sell their shares. DWS said the offer will remain open for acceptance until further notice and Stagecoach shareholders who have not yet accepted are being urged to do so.
Following the announcement the company revealed changes to its Board. Representatives of DWS Infrastructure have been added as additional non-executive directors with immediate effect: Hamish Mackenzie, Scott Auty, Miguel Costa and Florian Hubel join the Stagecoach Board, in addition to existing directors Ray O’Toole (Chairman), Martin Griffiths (Chief Executive) and Ross Paterson (Finance Director), together with non-executive director Lynne Weedall, who are expected to continue on the Board. The remaining non-executive directors Sir Brian Souter, Gregor Alexander, James Bilefield and Karen Thomson will step down from the Board following the de-listing of the Company’s shares.
