Regulator has issued no objection to the revised takeover bid

In an Our Today news follow-up… The board of listed Jamaican venture capital company, SSL Venture Capital Limited and that of its parent company Stocks & Securities Limited will this week vote on the takeover bid received from Micro-Financing Solutions Limited, another Jamaican company.

The vote should have taken place last month but was delayed due to Micro-Financing Solutions Limited, which is a sub-agent of Lasco Moneygram and Western Union having to amend its take-over bid.

SSL Venture Capital Chief Operating Officer Anthony Dunn disclosed last month that the offer circular from Micro-Financing Solutions contained “some inconsistencies”.

As such, the financial and equities regulatory body, the Financial Services Commission ordered Micro-Financing Solutions to revise its offer circular, which has been done and the takeover bid circular resubmitted to the FSC, which has issued a ‘No Objection’ letter.

Takeover bid

Micro-Financing Solutions made a takeover bid offer to purchase 100 per cent of SSL Venture Capital on January 17 for some $38 million. This represents one-tenth of the market value of shares in SSL Venture Capital, which is said to be worth $512 million on the stock market.

Micro-Financing Solutions Limited, which offers short-term funding solutions to both individuals and micro small and medium-size companies, is offering to purchase SSL Venture Capital issued share capital at the price of $0.0948 per ordinary share. The micro financier, which is based at #2Suite at 2 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 5 reports that further details of its offer will be made public in due course. 

SSL is the primary shareholder in SSL Venture Capital, owning 79 per cent of the issued shares with 15 per cent being owned by mostly former executive employees and directors of the venture capital outlet and the balance of six per cent equity being owned by the general public.

A takeover bid is governed by the Securities (Takeovers and Mergers) Regulations and the JSE Rules, which have strict confidentiality requirements and penalties for breaches. So, until that process is completed and the regulators sign off, the transaction is not considered completed.

Additionally, the selling company could also reject the offer.

SSL Venture Capital was formed in 2018 by Mark Croskery, the then CEO of SSL Jamaica.

SSL Venture Capital was listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in August 2018, following a reverse takeover of failed music publishing company, C2W.