RGI International shares rise following cash offer update

RGI International, the AIM-listed developer of residential and commercial property in Moscow, has issued an update regarding a mandatory cash offer by Direct Finance LLC.

On February 1st a letter, which has been seen by ShareCast, was issued to RGI shareholders announcing an "unconditional mandatory cash offer for RGI by BIDCO". BIDCO was defined in the document as Direct Finance LLC, a company registered in the Russian Federation with an office in Moscow.

In the letter, BIDCO was described as having offered to acquire all the issued and to be issued share capital of RGI that was not already owned by BIDCO or its concert parties with $2.10 in cash for every RGI share.

The offer valued the whole of RGI's issued share capital at approximately $343.85m.

The statement issued by RGI today stated that it noted "the announcement made by Direct Finance LLC regarding the level of acceptances that it had received in relation to its offer".

It added: "RGI shareholders should note that the announcement set out an interim update and that the final level of acceptances of the offer could be higher. As noted in the response circular published by the Independent Committee on February 4th 2013, if the level of acceptances of the offer results in an insufficient 'free float' then RGI's quotation on AIM may be lost."

The company added that the offer remained open for acceptances until 3pm on February 22nd.

On February 7th, RGI issued a trading update stating that trading for the fourth quarter and for the full financial year to December 31st was in line with management expectations.

The company stated that it had sold 135 apartments in the fourth quarter compared to 91 in the corresponding period in 2011. Total pre-sales of apartments exceeded RUR 4.8bn ($154m).

It said that construction permissions were received in the fourth quarter for the Phase two project, which comprised 1,501 apartments in five separate buildings, a school and a separate kindergarten.

RGI International's share price was up 0.24% to $2.10 at 12:12 on Monday.

MF