Caledonia Investments PLC Disposal (0120V)

TIDMCLDN

RNS Number : 0120V

Caledonia Investments PLC

30 October 2017

CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC

SALE OF THE SLOANE CLUB TO QUEENSWAY JOINT VENTURE FOR GBP80.6M

Caledonia Investments plc ("Caledonia" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has today sold its 100% interest in The Sloane Club (the "Club"), the private members club located in the heart of Chelsea, London, to Sloane Investment Limited, a special purpose vehicle jointly owned by JK Chelsea Holdings Limited, an affiliate of the Queensway Group ("Queensway"), and Clearbell Property Partners III LP, a real estate fund advised by Clearbell Capital LLP ("Clearbell").

The headline enterprise value agreed for the Club was GBP80.6m, which after fees and other transaction costs, has delivered net proceeds of GBP80.2m in cash to Caledonia, GBP3.5m of which was received as a pre-sale distribution of trading profit. The cash proceeds will be held on deposit for future investment.

The carrying value of the Club in Caledonia's audited balance sheet as at 31 March 2017, and similarly in the Company's net assets used to calculate its unaudited diluted net asset value per share ("NAV per share") as at 30 September 2017 of 3259p (announced on 6 October 2017), was GBP61.4m. Adjusted for the impact of the sale of the Club, Caledonia's NAV per share as at 30 September 2017 would have been 3290p. For the financial year to 31 March 2017, the Club generated total pre-tax profits of GBP2.8m and paid Caledonia a total of GBP1.8m in dividends and interest.

The Club was originally acquired by Caledonia in 1991. Under Caledonia's ownership, the Club has undertaken a significant extension as well as upgrading many of its facilities and increasing the number of rooms available for members. The Club has been run for most of this period by Tony Murkett, Managing Director, who will remain with the Club following the sale.

Both Queensway and Clearbell are supportive of the Club's long term strategy and intend to continue, with the incumbent management team, to upgrade and improve the Club's facilities.

Commenting on the sale, Duncan Johnson, Caledonia's Head of Unquoted Investments, said:

"With Caledonia's support for over a quarter of a century, The Sloane Club has grown to be a unique asset in the heart of London's Chelsea and exemplifies Caledonia's long term approach to investing. We are delighted to have identified new owners for the Club who share a similar investment ethos to Caledonia's. We wish Tony Murkett and his team continuing success in the future."

30 October 2017

For further information contact:

 
 Caledonia Investments 
  plc 
 Will Wyatt, Chief 
  Executive                  [phone] 
 Duncan Johnson, 
  Head of Unquoted 
  Investments 
 
 Media contact: 
 
 
   Tulchan Communications 
 Peter Hewer 
  Lisa Jarrett Kerr          [phone] 
 
 

This announcement contains inside information relating to Caledonia.

END

Notes for editors:

Caledonia Investments plc

Caledonia is a self-managed investment trust company listed on the London Stock Exchange with net assets of approximately GBP1.8bn as at 30 September 2017. The Company maintains a concentrated portfolio of international quoted, unquoted and fund investments and has paid an increasing annual dividend for 50 years.

In the unquoted arena, Caledonia seeks to invest GBP25m to GBP100m in private companies either on a majority or minority basis, providing a meaningful presence and growth capital supporting double-digit operating margins. Its current unquoted portfolio includes Seven Investment Management (a provider of discretionary fund management, asset management and self-invest platform services), Gala Bingo (the UK market leading retail bingo operator), Cobehold (a European unquoted investment house), Liberation Group (the market leading Channel Islands pub, restaurants and drinks business) and Choice Care Group (a UK learning disability care homes provider).

For additional information on Caledonia, please visit www.caledonia.com.

The Sloane Club

Originally established as a club for serving and former lady officers of the Armed Forces in World War II, The Sloane Club is a private members club located in the heart of Chelsea.

The 75,000 sq.ft. prime central London Club now offers over 130 bedrooms, fine dining and spa facilities to a membership of over 3,700.

For more information on the Club, please visit www.sloaneclub.co.uk.

Queensway Group

Queensway is a family-owned business that acquires, develops and operates a broad portfolio of real estate across the hotels, restaurants & coffee houses and property development & lettings sectors. Queensway has been in the hotel business in London since 1973.

For more information on Queensway, please visit www.queensway.com.

Clearbell Capital

Clearbell is an independently-owned real estate fund management business specialising in UK property investment, development and asset management.

The firm is led by experienced real estate investment professionals with long established UK market expertise spanning multiple cycles and across various property types. The five-strong partnership comprises Manish Chande, Nick Berry, Sally Doyle-Linden, Rob Mills and Rob West.

Clearbell manages capital from investors around the world including pension fund, fund of funds and not-for-profit investors.

Clearbell seeks to identify undervalued opportunities across a number of property sectors in the UK and to maximise returns by applying its investment and asset management expertise.

For further information please go to www.clearbell.com.

Transaction

The sale of The Sloane Club was led by Tim Lewis, Alex Mills and Sally Flanagan for Caledonia.

Catalyst (Andy Currie) and Savills (Gary Witham and Rob Stapleton) provided corporate finance advice to Caledonia with legal advice provided by Taylor Wessing (Ed Waldron).

Neither the contents of the above-named websites, nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on such websites (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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October 30, 2017 12:08 ET (16:08 GMT)