The European Investment Trust plc (the
“Company”)
Cancellation of New Zealand Stock
Exchange Listing
The Company announces that it has requested and been granted,
subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, approval from NZX
Limited ("NZX") for the listing of its ordinary shares on
the NZX Main Board ("NZSX") to be cancelled. The Company
expects to satisfy all of those conditions.
The last day of trading of the Company's shares on NZSX is
expected to be 31 October 2017. It is expected that the
shares will cease to be listed on the NZSX at the close of business
(New Zealand time) on 2 November 2017.
The Company's shares have been listed on the NZSX since
April 2000. There is a small and
decreasing number of shareholders remaining on the New Zealand register as well as a reduced
number of trades being undertaken on the NZSX. The Directors have
therefore determined that the costs associated with the Company’s
shares remaining listed on the NZSX outweigh the benefits to the
Company's shareholders.
Following the cancellation of the NZSX listing, the Company's
New Zealand listed shares will be
transferred to the Company's United
Kingdom share register. The Company's shares will
continue to be listed on the main market of London Stock Exchange
plc (the "LSE"). Any shares listed on the NZSX at the
time of cancellation of listing on the NZX will continue to be
listed on the LSE.
A letter setting out further details of the delisting and
transition process will be sent to the Company's New Zealand branch register shareholders
shortly. The terms of that letter are set out in the schedule
to this announcement.
18 September 2017
Enquiries:
Kenneth Greig
Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited
Tel: 0131 270 3800
The Company’s registered office address is:
Beaufort House
51 New North Road
Exeter
EX4 4EP
SCHEDULE – LETTER
TO BE SENT TO THE COMPANY'S NEW
ZEALAND BRANCH REGISTER SHAREHOLDERS
Dear Shareholder,
Cancellation of New Zealand Stock
Exchange Listing
On 18 September 2017, The European
Investment Trust plc (the "Company”) announced to the market
that it had requested and has been granted approval by NZX Limited
(“NZX”) for the cancellation of the listing of the Company’s
ordinary shares on the NZX Main Board (“NZSX”) (the
"Delisting").
Following a review of the costs associated with maintaining the
NZSX listing and in light of the low number of shareholders on the
New Zealand register, the Board of
the Company has determined that the New
Zealand listing is no longer economically viable.
There is no requirement under English law for the Company to seek
shareholder approval for the Delisting.
The last day of trading of the Company’s shares on NZSX will be
31 October 2017 and the shares will
cease to be listed at close of business (New Zealand time) on 2
November 2017.
Following cancellation of the NZSX listing, your shares held on
the Company’s New Zealand register
maintained by Computershare Investor Services Limited
("Computershare NZ") will be transferred to the UK register
maintained by Computershare Investor Services plc
("Computershare UK") (the "Transfer"). It is intended
that Computershare UK will issue you with a share certificate on
3 November 2017 confirming your
shareholding after the Transfer is completed. You should
receive the share certificate within 10 working days from the date
of issue.
In order to trade your shares following the Delisting and
Transfer you will need to contact a sharebroker who has access to
London Stock Exchange plc ("LSE"). A number of New Zealand sharebrokers have access to the
LSE and would be able to provide this broking service. No
action or funds are required from you in connection with the
Delisting or the Transfer. Further, there should be no
additional expenses that will be imposed on you following the
Transfer in order for you to be able to trade on the LSE.
Comparable costs of brokerage will continue to be payable by you in
the same way as is the case currently.
You will be able to trade on the LSE on and from 3 November 2017. However, please note that until
you have your share certificate in your possession, in order for
any trading to take place Computershare UK will be required to
certify to your sharebroker that a valid holding exists.
Computershare UK has confirmed it will be able to do this.
Dividend payments following the Transfer will be in sterling.
Please note that these payments could be paid into your
New Zealand bank account via the
Company’s registrar's Global Payments Service. Details of
this service will be sent to you along with your share
certificate.
Following the Transfer, you will continue to receive the
Company’s annual reports and information relating to its annual
general meeting and voting. The information that is currently
available on the NZSX website such as the Company’s share price and
latest announcements will be available at
www.londonstockexchange.com under the ticker code EUT and through
the Company’s website, http://theeuropeaninvestmenttrust.com.
Please do not hesitate to contact Computershare NZ (contact,
Mark Tappenden) at
mark.tappenden@computershare.com.au if you have any queries in
relation to the Delisting. If you have any queries about your
shareholding on the register following the Transfer, please contact
Computershare UK (contact, Norman
Walker) at norman.walker@computershare.co.uk.
The Board would like to thank you for your support during our
time in New Zealand and we look
forward to continue having you as a shareholder in the future.
Yours faithfully
Michael MacPhee
Chairman