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13 March
2024
PPHE Hotel Group
Limited
("PPHE Hotel Group", the
"Company" or the "Group")
Announcement of Posting of
AGM Notice and Proposed Rule 9 Waiver
PPHE Hotel Group, the international
hospitality real estate group which develops, owns and operates
hotels and resorts, announces today that the circular including
notice of its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") (the "AGM Notice") will be published and
posted to Shareholders today. The AGM will take place on 22 May
2024 at 12 noon at The Farmhouse Hotel, Route des Bas Courtils, St
Saviours, Guernsey, GY7 9YF.
The AGM
Notice will also be available today on the Company's website
at www.pphe.com. In accordance with UK Listing Rules 9.6.1 and 9.6.3, the AGM
Notice will today be submitted to the Financial Conduct Authority
via the National Storage Mechanism and will
shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
Proposed Rule 9 Waiver
One resolution to be proposed at the
AGM (Resolution 18 of the AGM Notice, the "Rule 9 Waiver Resolution") seeks
approval of a waiver of the mandatory offer provisions set out in
Rule 9 of the Takeover Code to be put to Independent Shareholders
(being Shareholders other than those who are members of the concert
party comprising the Company's Non-Executive Chairman, Eli
Papouchado, and President and Chief Executive Officer, Boris
Ivesha, and parties acting in concert with them (the "Concert Party")) via a poll.
This resolution is required in order
to give the Board the flexibility to act on Resolution 17 of the
AGM Notice should it be approved at the AGM, which proposes to
authorise the Company to make market purchases of up to 2,118,165
Ordinary Shares of nil par value (the "Share Buy-Back Authority").
Should Resolution 17 of the AGM Notice be approved, the Directors
will only exercise the power of purchase after careful
consideration and in circumstances where they are satisfied, that
to do so would result in an increase in earnings per share and
would be in the best interests of the Company and of its
Shareholders generally. The Directors intend to keep under review
the potential to purchase Ordinary Shares.
The Share Buy-Back Authority
(subject to prevailing conditions at such time) would offer the
Company the ability to make market purchases at a price or prices
that the Company believes will be value enhancing to
Shareholders.
Given that the Concert Party,
currently holds 43.43 per cent. of the Company's issued share
capital, any increase in its percentage holding resulting from the
Company implementing the Share Buy-Back Authority (if approved)
would trigger a mandatory requirement to make an offer for all of
the Ordinary Shares (excluding treasury shares) unless the Takeover
Panel waives such requirement. As is customary, the Takeover Panel
will only grant such a waiver if (amongst other things) the Rule 9
Waiver Resolution has been passed. If the Company were to
repurchase from persons other than members of the Concert Party,
the maximum number of Ordinary Shares pursuant to the proposed
Share Buy-Back Authority, the Concert Party's interest in Ordinary
Shares would (assuming no other allotments of Ordinary Shares)
increase to 45.71 per cent. of the issued share capital of the
Company.
One of the purposes of the AGM
Notice is to provide Shareholders with an explanation of the Rule 9
Waiver Resolution and to give Shareholders the information required
under the Takeover Code.
The Independent Directors, who have
been so advised by Jefferies and Investec, consider the Rule 9
Waiver Resolution and the Share Buy-Back Authority, including the
maximum controlling position which it will create and the effect
which this will have on Shareholders generally, to be fair and
reasonable and to be in the best interests of the Independent
Shareholders and the Company as a whole. In providing its advice to
the Independent Directors, Jefferies and Investec have taken
account of the Independent Directors' commercial
assessments.
The voting results of all the
resolutions put before the AGM including the Share Buy-Back
Authority and the Rule 9 Waiver Resolution will be announced to the
market following the AGM.
A further announcement will be made
regarding any decision to implement the Share Buy-Back Authority at
the relevant time.
Further details of the Rule 9 Waiver
Resolution which will be put to Independent Shareholders at the AGM
are set out in the AGM Notice.
Terms used but not defined in this
announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the AGM
Notice.
The Rule 9 Waiver Resolution is to
be proposed as an ordinary resolution, requiring a simple majority
of the Independent Shareholders present in person or by proxy to
vote in favour in order for it to be passed.
- Ends
-
Enquiries:
PPHE Hotel Group Limited
|
Tel: +31 (0)20 717 8600
|
Daniel Kos, Chief Financial Officer
& Executive Director
|
|
Robert Henke, Executive Vice
President of Commercial Affairs
|
|
Hudson Sandler
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 7796 4133
|
Wendy Baker / Charlotte Cobb / India
Laidlaw
|
pphe@hudsonsandler.com
|
Notes to Editors:
PPHE Hotel Group is an international
hospitality real estate company, with a £2.2 billion portfolio,
valued as at December 2022 by Savills and Zagreb nekretnine Ltd
(ZANE), of primarily prime freehold and long leasehold assets in
Europe.
Through its subsidiaries, jointly
controlled entities and associates it owns, co-owns, develops,
leases, operates and franchises hospitality real estate. Its
portfolio includes full-service upscale, upper upscale and
lifestyle hotels in major gateway cities and regional centres, as
well as hotel, resort and campsite properties in select resort
destinations. The Group's strategy is to grow its portfolio of core
upper upscale city centre hotels, leisure and outdoor hospitality
and hospitality management platform.
PPHE Hotel Group benefits from
having an exclusive and perpetual licence from the Radisson Hotel
Group, one of the world's largest hotel groups, to develop and
operate Park Plaza® branded hotels and resorts in Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. In addition, PPHE Hotel Group wholly owns,
and operates under, the art'otel® brand and its Croatian subsidiary
owns, and operates under, the Arena Hotels & Apartments® and
Arena Campsites® brands.
PPHE Hotel Group is a Guernsey
registered company with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange.
PPHE Hotel Group also holds a controlling ownership interest in
Arena Hospitality Group, whose shares are listed on the Prime
market of the Zagreb Stock Exchange.
Company websites: www.pphe.com | www.arenahospitalitygroup.com
For reservations:
www.parkplaza.com | www.artotel.com | www.arenahotels.com | www.arenacampsites.com