City investment vehicle Tosca Fund has increased the number of shares it holds in Eprop Services Plc, the parent company of the Guild of Property Professionals and Fine & Country.
The additional shares were added after Toscafund acquired 1.9 million shares from Easyproperty.com founder and former Eprop director Rob Ellice.
This then took the fund’s holdings above the shareholding threshold at which point any remaining shareholders must be offered the same deal and, Eprop Services have confirmed, several did take up the offer, helping increase Toscafund’s holdings to more than 50% of the company’s shares.
“Toscafund has been one of the key share holders in Eprop right from the beginning but their acquisition of the shares from a single holder triggered what’s called a Rule 9 of the takeover code,” a spokesperson said.
Larger shareholder
“So now this means Toscafund is a slightly larger shareholder than they were before but otherwise everything is carrying on as before.
“In terms of strategy and going forward, Tosca Fund has always been very supportive of the Eprop management team and what we’re doing.”
The Negotiator also enquired if the way Eprop Services operates had changed following the sale of Easyproperty.com to Evolve in July.
“David at Evolve and his team are pushing forward and we’re still obviously in a close working partnership with him, but he’s someone who Jon Cooke has had a great relationship with for many years and who has supported everything we’re doing.”
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