March 18, 2024
Intended Purchases of
Ordinary Shares
in Connection with the
Deferred Compensation Plan
Burford Capital Limited (the
"Company"), the leading global finance and asset management firm
focused on law, today announces a share
repurchase program for the Company's ordinary shares, no par value
per share ("Ordinary Shares"), with authorization to repurchase up
to a maximum aggregate amount of £5.0 million (the "Program") in
connection with future obligations under the Company's deferred
compensation plan (the "Deferred Compensation Plan"). It has been
the Company's practice to purchase Ordinary Shares in the open
market from time to time in connection with the Company's
obligations under its employees' share schemes.
About the Program
·
|
The Program will be financed through
existing cash resources.
|
·
|
The Company has appointed Numis
Securities Limited ("Numis") to independently manage the Program to
repurchase Ordinary Shares on its behalf and within certain defined
parameters.
|
·
|
Any purchase of Ordinary Shares will
be carried out on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock
Exchange.
|
·
|
The aggregate number of Ordinary
Shares acquired by the Company pursuant to the Program shall not
exceed the maximum number of Ordinary Shares which the Company is
authorized to acquire pursuant to the authority to acquire up to a
maximum of 21,895,271 Ordinary Shares as obtained at the Company's
annual general meeting held on July 5, 2023 (the "General
Authority").
|
·
|
In accordance with the General
Authority, the maximum price paid per Ordinary Share acquired by
the Company pursuant to the Program is to be no more than the
higher of:
|
o
|
105% of the average of the middle
market quotations for the five business days immediately preceding
the day on which Ordinary Shares are contracted to be acquired;
and
|
o
|
the higher of the price of the last
independent trade and the highest current independent purchase bid
for Ordinary Shares on the trading venue where the acquisition is
carried out.
|
·
|
The Program will commence on the
date of this announcement and will continue until the earlier of
(i) the expiration of the General Authority and (ii) until the
maximum pecuniary amount has been purchased under the
Program.
|
·
|
Ordinary Shares acquired pursuant to
the Program will be initially held by the Company in treasury and,
at the Company's sole discretion, may subsequently be used in
connection with the employees' share schemes, directors' award
plans or other purposes, as the case may be. Ordinary shares held
in treasury are not entitled to dividends and have no voting rights
at the Company's annual general meetings.
|
·
|
Acquisitions of Ordinary Shares
pursuant to the Program will take place in open market transactions
and may be made from time to time depending on market conditions,
share price and trading volume.
|
·
|
The Program will operate in
accordance with and under the terms of the General Authority and
the parameters of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014 and
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 (in each case, as
they form part of UK law pursuant to the European Union
(Withdrawal) Act 2018).
|
·
|
As of March 18, 2024, the Company's
total issued share capital consisted of 219,316,028 Ordinary
Shares, with one voting right per share. The Company holds 350,947
Ordinary Shares in treasury. Therefore, the total number of voting
rights in the Company as of March 18, 2024 was
218,965,081.
|
·
|
Daily announcements will be made as
soon as practicable after each purchase of Ordinary Shares pursuant
to the Program and upon completion of the Program.
|
|
| |
For
further information, please contact:
Burford Capital Limited
|
|
For investor and analyst inquiries:
|
|
Robert Bailhache, Head of Investor
Relations, EMEA and Asia - email
|
+44 (0)20
3530 2023
|
Jim Ballan, Head of Investor
Relations, Americas - email
|
+1 (646)
793 9176
|
For press inquiries:
|
|
David Helfenbein, Vice President,
Public Relations - email
|
+1 (212)
235 6824
|
|
|
Deutsche Numis -
NOMAD and Joint Broker
|
+44 (0)20
7260 1000
|
Giles Rolls
|
|
Charlie Farquhar
|
|
|
|
Jefferies International Limited - Joint Broker
|
+44 (0)20
7029 8000
|
Graham Davidson
|
|
James Umbers
|
|
|
|
Berenberg - Joint
Broker
|
+44 (0)20
3207 7800
|
Toby Flaux
|
|
James Thompson
|
|
Yasmina Benchekroun
|
|
|
|
|
About Burford Capital
Burford Capital is the leading
global finance and asset management firm focused on law. Its
businesses include litigation finance
and risk
management, asset
recovery and a wide range of legal finance
and advisory activities. Burford is publicly traded on the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUR) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE:
BUR), and it works with companies and law firms around the world
from its offices in New York, London, Chicago, Washington, DC,
Singapore, Dubai, Sydney and Hong Kong.
For more information, please
visit www.burfordcapital.com.
This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any ordinary shares or other
securities of Burford.
This announcement does not constitute an offer of any Burford
private fund. Burford Capital
Investment Management LLC, which acts as the fund manager of all
Burford private funds, is registered as an investment adviser with
the US Securities and Exchange
Commission. The information provided in
this announcement is for informational purposes only. Past
performance is not indicative of future results. The information
contained in this announcement is not, and should not be construed
as, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any
securities (including, without limitation, interests or shares in
any of Burford private funds). Any such offer or solicitation may
be made only by means of a final confidential private placement
memorandum and other offering documents.
Forward-looking statements
This announcement contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of
the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding
assumptions, expectations, projections, intentions and beliefs
about future events. These statements are intended as
"forward-looking statements". In some cases, predictive,
future-tense or forward-looking words such as "aim", "anticipate",
"believe", "continue", "could", "estimate", "expect", "forecast",
"guidance", "intend", "may", "plan", "potential", "predict",
"projected", "should" or "will" or the negative of such terms or
other comparable terminology are intended to identify
forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of
identifying such statements. In addition, Burford and its
representatives may from time to time make other oral or written
statements that are forward-looking, including in its periodic
reports that Burford files with, or furnishes to, the
US Securities and Exchange
Commission, other information made
available to Burford's security holders and other written
materials. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors because
they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may
not occur in the future. Burford cautions that forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based
on numerous assumptions, expectations,
projections, intentions and beliefs and
that Burford's actual results of operations, including its
financial position and liquidity, and the development of the
industry in which it operates, may differ materially from (and be
more negative than) those made in, or suggested by, the
forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.
Significant factors that may cause actual results to differ from
those Burford expects include, among others, those discussed under
"Risk Factors" in Burford's annual report on Form 20-F for the year
ended December 31, 2022 filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2023 and other reports or
documents that Burford files with, or furnishes to, the
US Securities and Exchange Commission from time to
time. In addition, even if Burford's
results of operations, including its financial position and
liquidity, and the development of the industry in which it operates
are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in
this announcement, those results of operations or developments may
not be indicative of results of operations or developments in
subsequent periods.
Except as required by law, Burford
undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking
statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.