Slaughter and May advised Ascential plc (Ascential) on its placing of 35.5 million ordinary shares to raise gross proceeds of approximately £153m (the Placing).
The results of the Placing, which represented c. 8.8% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of Ascential, were announced on 27 July 2021. It was conducted by an accelerated book-building process, with J.P. Morgan Cazenove and Numis Securities Limited acting as joint book-runners. Part of the net proceeds from the Placing will be used to finance the acquisition by Ascential of a majority stake in ASR Group Holdings LLC, which was announced on 16 July 2021.
Slaughter and May worked closely with a team from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, who advised on matters of US law, and Ascential’s general counsel Kent Dreadon.