AGM Information • May 21, 2020
AGM Information
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THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT AND REQUIRES YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION. If you are in any doubt about the contents of this document or about what action to take, you should immediately seek your own professional advice from your stockbroker, solicitor, accountant, bank manager or other appropriately qualified independent financial adviser who is authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, if you are in the United Kingdom, or from another appropriately authorised independent financial adviser, if you are in a territory outside the United Kingdom.
If you sell or transfer or have sold or transferred all of your Ordinary Shares, please send this document (together with the accompanying documents, but not the personalised Form of Proxy) to the purchaser or transferee or to the stockbroker, bank or other agent through whom the sale or transfer was effected, for delivery to the purchaser or transferee.

(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 00303062)
and
A notice convening the General Meeting to be held at 11.00 am on 19 June 2020 at the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT is set out in Part II of this document. You should read the whole of this document.
Your attention is drawn to the letter from the Chairman which is set out in Part I of this document and which includes a recommendation that you vote in favour of the Resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting. A Form of Proxy for use at the General Meeting is enclosed with the Notice of General Meeting and instructions for its completion and return by post are set out in the Form of Proxy.
Please read the information concerning attendance at the General Meeting set out in the letter from the Chairman in the paragraph headed "General Meeting and Resolution".
Page
| Expected Timetable of Principal Events | 3 |
|---|---|
| Part I Letter from the Chairman of Electra Private Equity PLC |
4 |
| Part II Notice of General Meeting |
8 |
| Part III Definitions |
12 |
Publication of this document 21 May 2020 Latest time and date for receipt of Forms of Proxy 11.00 am on 17 June 2020 General Meeting 19 June 2020 Court hearing of application to confirm the Reduction of Capital 21 July 2020 Effective Date 22 July 2020
General notes:
(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 00303062)
17 Old Park Lane London W1K 1QT
21 May 2020
Neil Johnson (Chairman) Paul Goodson David Lis Gavin Manson Stephen Welker Linda Wilding
Dear Shareholder,
I am writing in connection with the proposed cancellation of the entire share premium account and capital redemption reserve of Electra Private Equity PLC (the "Company"). This letter also provides details of a General Meeting that will be held at the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT on 19 June 2020 at 11.00 am to consider the Resolution that will be put to Shareholders to approve the proposed Reduction of Capital.
This letter is being sent to you (i) to explain the background to, and reasons for, the Reduction of Capital and why the Board considers that it is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders that you vote in favour of the Resolution, (ii) to give notice of the General Meeting, formal notice of which is set out in Part II of this document and (iii) to explain the actions you should now take.
The contents of this letter are important and I would urge you to read it carefully and to sign and return the enclosed Form of Proxy in accordance with the instructions given thereon and in paragraph 6 ("Action to be taken") below as soon as possible.
The Company's investment objective (which was approved by the Shareholders at the general meeting in October 2018) is to follow a realisation strategy which aims to crystallise value for Shareholders, through balancing the timing of returning cash to Shareholders with maximisation of value. The Board is accordingly conducting a managed wind-down of the Group's portfolio over a period of time with a view to returning cash to Shareholders and ultimately effecting the winding-up of the Company. The Reduction of Capital is being sought to create distributable reserves that will give the Company the flexibility to pursue its stated investment objective and continue its managed wind-down by enabling it to make future distributions of profits in cash or in specie to Shareholders and/or make future purchases of its own shares.
You should note that the Reduction of Capital is conditional upon the approval of Shareholders at the General Meeting and also the confirmation of the Court, as further detailed in paragraph 4 ("Necessary approvals") below.
In seeking approval of the Reduction of Capital, the Directors are not indicating any commitment, and, at the date of this letter do not have any immediate intention, to make any distributions or to buy back any Ordinary Shares.
The proposed Reduction of Capital itself will not involve any distribution or repayment of capital or share premium or capital redemption reserve by the Company and will not reduce the underlying net assets of the Company. Following the implementation of the Reduction of Capital there will be no change to the number of Ordinary Shares in issue (or their nominal value), and no new share certificates will be issued.
The Company currently has a balance on its share premium account of £122,913,951 which has arisen as a result of various prior issues of shares by the Company at prices in excess of their nominal value. The Company currently also has a balance on its capital redemption reserve of £34,936,903 which has arisen as a result of prior purchases by the Company of its own shares out of distributable profits. Under the Companies Act 2006, the share premium account and the capital redemption reserve constitute non-distributable reserves and the sums credited to those reserves are therefore not distributable to shareholders. Consequently, the Board is recommending and seeking the approval of Shareholders that the entire share premium account and capital redemption reserve of the Company should be cancelled.
Subject to any direction given by the Court in confirming the proposed cancellations and subject to the terms of any undertaking given by the Company to the Court in relation to the reserve which arises, the effect of the proposal, if approved by Shareholders, will be to enable the Company to increase its distributable reserves by the aggregate of the relevant balances on the Company's share premium account and capital redemption reserve in existence at the time when the proposed cancellations take effect. The current aggregate balance of those reserves is £157,850,854 and the Board does not anticipate that there will be any material change to such balance prior to the proposed cancellations taking effect. Accordingly, it is expected that the Reduction of Capital will create additional distributable reserves to the value of £157,850,854.
In addition to the approval by the Shareholders that is being sought from you pursuant to the Resolution set out in the Notice of General Meeting, the proposed Reduction of Capital requires the confirmation of the Court.
Accordingly, if the Shareholders approve the Resolution at the General Meeting, an application will be made to the Court for the Court to approve the proposed Reduction of Capital. In anticipation of this, a provisional date of 21 July 2020 has been obtained for the hearing by the Court to confirm the proposed Reduction of Capital. This date is subject to change depending on the Court's timetable. It is anticipated that the Reduction of Capital will then become effective on the day after the Court hearing, following the necessary registration of, amongst other things, the order of the Court confirming the proposed Reduction of Capital at Companies House.
Before it confirms the Reduction of Capital, the Court will need to be satisfied that the creditors of the Company at the Effective Date are not prejudiced by it. The Court may require protection for such creditors (including contingent creditors), except in the case of any creditors that have consented to the proposed Reduction of Capital. Any such creditor protection may include seeking the consent of certain of the Company's creditors to the proposed Reduction of Capital or by the Company giving an undertaking to the Court to deposit a sum of money into a blocked account created for the purpose of discharging, in due course, any amounts owing to the non-consenting creditors of the Company. The precise form of creditor protection is a question for the Court.
The Board reserves the right to abandon or to discontinue (in whole or in part) the application to the Court in the event that the Board considers that the terms on which the proposed Reduction of Capital would be (or would be likely to be) confirmed by the Court would not be in the best interests of the Company and/or the Shareholders as a whole. The Board has undertaken a detailed review of the Company's liabilities (including contingent liabilities) and considers that the Company will be able to satisfy the Court that, as at the Effective Date, the Company's creditors will be sufficiently protected.
The General Meeting will be held at the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT on 19 June 2020 at 11.00 am. The Notice of General Meeting is set out in Part II of this document on pages 8 to 11.
The Resolution to approve the Reduction of Capital will be proposed as a special resolution requiring a majority of not less than 75 per cent. of the votes cast.
The Board is monitoring closely the evolving Covid-19 situation and the related guidelines from Governmental authorities, including with regard to the potential impact on attendance at the General Meeting. In the light of the current government restrictions on public gatherings we are proposing that three Directors of the Company should be the sole persons permitted to have physical access to the General Meeting and that no-one else will be permitted to attend the General Meeting in person. If you wish to participate in the General Meeting remotely, please notify the Company in writing, either by way of a letter sent by post to the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT (marked for the attention of the Company Secretary) or by email to [email protected]. If the Company receives your letter or email before 5.00pm on 12 June 2020 and you are eligible to participate in the meeting, then the Company will notify you by email, or by letter if you fail to provide an email address, of the means by which you can participate remotely in the General Meeting through an appropriate electronic platform. If your letter or email is received after 5.00pm on 12 June 2020, and you are eligible to participate in the meeting, then the Company will arrange for you to be able to participate remotely if it can reasonably do so. The Government has stated that it will review the restrictions related to Covid-19 in due course and we shall notify Shareholders of any resulting change to these plans on our website, www.electraequity.com. Given the current restrictions on attendance at the General Meeting, we would strongly urge Shareholders to submit proxy votes as described in the notes to the Notice of General Meeting on pages 9 to 11 of this document. Delivery of a proxy vote will not preclude Shareholders from attending and voting in person at the General Meeting, should the restrictions be lifted so that Shareholders are able to attend the General Meeting in person.
As noted above, you are encouraged to complete and return a Form of Proxy as soon as possible. You may appoint the Chairman of the General Meeting as proxy to exercise your rights to attend, speak and vote at the General Meeting by completing and returning the enclosed Form of Proxy. CREST members may appoint proxies by using the CREST electronic proxy appointment service. You are also entitled to appoint a person other than the Chairman of the General Meeting as your proxy but please note that, if the current restrictions on public gatherings continue, any such person will not be able to attend the General Meeting other than remotely.
Full details on how to appoint a proxy are set out on pages 9 to 11 of this document and in the enclosed Form of Proxy.
The Directors consider that the proposed Reduction of Capital is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders as a whole and unanimously recommend that you vote in favour of the Resolution, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial holdings, representing as at 19 May 2020 (being the latest practicable date prior to the printing of this letter) 11,514,163 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 30.08 per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital.
Yours sincerely,
Neil Johnson Chairman Electra Private Equity PLC
The Board is monitoring closely the evolving Covid-19 situation and the related guidelines from Governmental authorities, including with regard to the potential impact on attendance at the General Meeting. In the light of the current government restrictions on public gatherings we are proposing that three Directors of the Company should be the sole persons permitted to have physical access to the General Meeting and that no-one else will be permitted to attend the General Meeting in person. If you wish to participate in the General Meeting remotely, please notify the Company in writing, either by way of a letter sent by post to the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT (marked for the attention of the Company Secretary) or by email to [email protected]. If the Company receives your letter or email before 5.00 pm on 12 June 2020, and you are eligible to participate in the General Meeting, then the Company will notify you by email, or by letter if you fail to provide an email address, of the means by which you can participate remotely in the General Meeting through an appropriate electronic platform. If your letter or email is received after 5.00pm on 12 June 2020, and you are eligible to participate in the meeting, then the Company will arrange for you to be able to participate remotely if it can reasonably do so. The Government has stated that it will review the restrictions in due course and the Company shall therefore notify Shareholders of any resulting change to these plans on the Company's website, www.electraequity.com. Given the current restrictions on attendance at the General Meeting, we would strongly urge Shareholders to submit proxy votes as described below. Delivery of a proxy vote will not preclude Shareholders from attending and voting in person at the General Meeting, should the restrictions be lifted so that Shareholders are able to attend the General Meeting in person.
(Incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 00303062)
Notice is hereby given that a General Meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of the Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT on 19 June 2020 at 11.00 am for the purposes of considering and, if thought fit, passing the following Resolution as a special resolution.
That the share premium account and the capital redemption reserve of the Company be cancelled.
Frostrow Capital LLP Company Secretary
21 May 2020
Registered Office: 17 Old Park Lane London W1K 1QT
Please note that, as stated above, pursuant to the current Government restrictions prohibiting public gatherings three Directors of the Company will attend the General Meeting to form a quorum thereat and that no other person will be permitted to physically attend the General Meeting. The Government has stated that it will review the prohibition in due course and we shall notify Shareholders of any resulting change to these plans on our website www.electraequity.com. The notes below are to be construed as subject to this restriction.
agent (ID RA19) by the latest time for receipt of proxy appointments specified in the Notice of General Meeting. For this purpose, the time of receipt will be taken to be the time (as determined by the time stamp applied to the message by the CREST Applications Host) from which the issuer's agent is able to retrieve the message by enquiry to CREST in the manner prescribed by CREST. After this time, any change of instructions to proxies appointed through CREST should be communicated to the appointee through other means. CREST Members and, where applicable, their CREST Sponsors or voting service providers should note that Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited does not make available special procedures in CREST for any particular messages. Normal system timings and limitations will therefore apply in relation to the input of CREST Proxy Instructions. It is the responsibility of the CREST Member concerned to take (or, if the CREST Member is a CREST personal member or sponsored member or has appointed a voting service provider(s), to procure that his CREST Sponsor or voting service provider(s) take(s)) such action as shall be necessary to ensure that a message is transmitted by means of the CREST system by any particular time. In this connection, CREST Members and, where applicable, their CREST Sponsors or voting service providers are referred, in particular, to those sections of the CREST Manual concerning practical limitations of the CREST system and timings (www.euroclear.com). The Company may treat as invalid a CREST Proxy Instruction in the circumstances set out in Regulation 35(5)(a) of the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001.
the answer has already been given on a website in the form of an answer to a question; or (c) it is undesirable in the interests of the Company that the question be answered.
The following definitions and terms apply throughout this document unless otherwise stated or the context requires otherwise:
| "Company" | means Electra Private Equity PLC, a company incorporated and registered |
|---|---|
| in England and Wales with registered number 00303062 | |
| "Court" | the High Court of Justice of England and Wales |
| "CREST" | the system for paperless settlement of trades and the holding of |
| uncertificated shares administered through Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited | |
| in accordance with the Crest Regulations | |
| "CREST Manual" | the Manual, as amended from time to time, produced by Euroclear |
| describing the CREST system and supplied by Euroclear to users and | |
| participants thereof | |
| "CREST Member" | a person who has been admitted by Euroclear as a system member (as |
| defined in the CREST Regulations) | |
| "CREST Participant" | a person who is, in relation to CREST, a system participant (as defined in |
| the CREST Regulations) | |
| "CREST Regulations" | the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3755), as |
| amended from time to time | |
| "CREST Sponsor" | a CREST Participant admitted to CREST as a CREST Sponsor |
| "CREST Sponsored | a CREST Member admitted to CREST as a Sponsored Member |
| Member" | |
| "Directors" or "Board" | the board of directors of the Company as at the date of this document |
| "Effective Date" | the date on which the Reduction of Capital becomes effective, being the |
| date on which the Court order relating to the proposed Reduction of | |
| Capital and the statement of capital in respect of the proposed Reduction | |
| of Capital have both been registered by the Registrar of Companies at | |
| Companies House | |
| "Equiniti Limited" | a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered number |
| 06226088, whose registered office is at Aspect House, Spencer Road, | |
| Lancing, West Sussex BN99 6DA | |
| "Euroclear" | Euroclear UK & Ireland Limited, a company incorporated in England and |
| Wales with registered number 02878738, whose registered office is at 33 | |
| Cannon Street, London EC4M 5SB, the operator of CREST | |
| "Form of Proxy" or |
the form of proxy accompanying this document to be used in connection |
| "Form" | with the General Meeting |
| "General Meeting" | the general meeting of the Company to be held at the offices of the |
| Company at 17 Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QT on 19 June 2020 at |
| 11.00 am, or any adjournment thereof, notice of which is set out in Part II of this document |
|
|---|---|
| "Notice of General Meeting" |
the notice convening the General Meeting contained in this document |
| "Ordinary Shares" | the ordinary shares of £0.25 each in the capital of the Company |
| "Reduction of Capital" | the proposed cancellation of the share premium account and the capital redemption reserve of the Company as described in this document |
| "Register of Members" | the Company's register of members |
| "Registrar" | Equiniti Limited |
| "Resolution" | the special resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting as set out in the Notice of General Meeting in Part II of this document |
| "Shareholders" | the holders of Ordinary Shares |
| "United Kingdom" or "UK" |
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
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