Alliance Trust sells Liontrust shares for £21 million

Alliance Trust made a 55% return on the Liontrust shares gained through the sale of its asset management business.

Alliance Trust has sold its 4,060,792 shares, or 8.2% stake, in Liontrust Asset Management and raised net proceeds of £21 million.  

The global trust firm received the shares - valued at £17 million or 334.9p per share - when Liontrust agreed to buy its asset management business, Alliance Trust Investments, in April 2017.

Alliance Trust sold for 520p per share, a price close to the average mid-market price of Liontrust shares over the past month, marking a 55% return for the company.

Liontrust announced it had released Alliance Trust from a lock-up arrangement, meaning the sale of the shares could go ahead.

The firm will also receive a further 1,015,198 shares in April this year as part of the sale, also subject to a lock-up arrangement.

Alliance Trust added in a statement that following the “strong performance” of Liontrust’s shares it expects net proceeds from the sale will be £30 million, £5 million more than initially expected.

The acquisition saw Liontrust’s assets under management increase by around £2.3 billion to more than £8 billion in total.

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