Kerman & Co LLP advises Octagonal PLC on its acquisition, placing and the admission of the enlarged group to trading on AIM

30 June 2015

Kerman & Co’s Corporate & Capital Markets team is delighted to have advised existing client, Octagonal PLC (“Octagonal”), an AIM quoted investment company focussed on opportunities in the financial services sector, on its acquisition of Global Investment Strategy (UK) Limited  (“GIS”).

GIS is a financial services business offering a wide range of services to institutional, family office and high net worth clients. Its main business activities, accounting for approximately 80% of its 2014 turnover, focus on providing global settlement and safe custody services for institutional clients, family wealth offices and high net worth individuals. It also offers a range of stockbroking services, including execution-only trading, discretionary fund management, direct market access online trading, equity capital markets, corporate finance and corporate broking. GIS's global settlement and safe custody clearing business alone currently transacts for over 600 clients, including global hedge funds and family wealth offices. GIS manages on average over 6,000 transactions per month with quarterly settlement values exceeding £2 billion on behalf of global institutional accounts.

In addition, Octagonal raised £1.7 million through a placing of new shares. The acquisition constituted a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies.

The enlarged share capital of Octagonal was admitted to trading on AIM on 30 June 2015.