IWL close to taking full control of Sanford
IWL’s holding inSanford Securitieshas increased to 85 per cent following the recent recommendation by the latter’s independent board of directors for all remaining shareholders to accept IWL ’s offer to acquire their stake in the company.
Additionally IWL has extended its offer period deadline for the third and likely final time, with May 1 now the cut off date for remaining shareholders.
IWL managing director Otto Buttula is confident this is the final deadline, and believes IWL’s stake will soon rise to 90 per cent, at which point the group intends to compulsorily acquire all outstanding Sanford shares.
IWL says the purpose of the additional extension is to accommodate further late acceptances and will include another full acceptance by one of Sanford’s independent directors.
The financial planning software provider has also taken a commanding position of the Sanford board, with Buttula confirming two more IWL members being added to the board.
The additions are IWL chief financial officer and chief operating officer Luke Littlefield and executive general manager of technical infrastructure and services Phil Moore.
IWL originally extended its offer period by a fortnight in March, which was then extended for a further fortnight early in April. This extension will see another fortnight added to that date, with the offer period now closing on May 1.
During the first extension, IWL’s stake in the group rose to 58.2 per cent, largely due to National Australia Bank and a founding shareholder accepting the offer. This was a significant increase from IWL’s previous 24.2 per cent stake and arguably the catalyst for its now majority stake in the group.
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