Slaughter and May is advising the Wellcome Trust on a recommended cash offer for Urban&Civic plc’s entire issued and to be issued share capital

Slaughter and May is advising the Wellcome Trust (“Wellcome”) on a recommended cash offer for Urban&Civic plc’s (“Urban&Civic”) entire issued and to be issued share capital by The Wellcome Trust Limited, as trustee of Wellcome. The offer was announced on 6 November 2020.

Under the offer, each Urban&Civic shareholder will be entitled to receive 345 pence in cash for each Urban&Civic share. The offer values Urban&Civic’s issued and to be issued share capital at approximately £506.0 million. The transaction is to be effected by court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement and is expected to complete in Q1 2021.

Wellcome is an independent foundation. All its work is funded from an investment portfolio valued at £26.8 billion (30 September 2019). An in-house team of investment professionals manage Wellcome’s portfolio. Their aim is to maximise returns over the long term to ensure Wellcome continues to have sustainable resources for its charitable activities. Wellcome supports discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and is taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, global heating and infectious diseases.

Urban&Civic is a property development and investment company listed on the Official List and admitted to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It aims to deliver large scale, residential led, strategic developments in key growth areas in the Midlands and South East England. Urban&Civic also promotes smaller land parcels for sale to housebuilders and undertakes limited commercial development , the proceeds of which are reinvested in the strategic projects.

Slaughter and May is supporting Wellcome’s internal legal team, led by Harvey Nugent and Julia Drisdell.