CFG Conister Fin

    RNS Number : 2443X
  Conister Financial Group plc
  23 June 2008
   

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                         23 June 2008

    Conister Financial Group PLC ("CFG")

    Acquisition of strategic stake in Equity Special Situations Limited ("ESS") and the issue of equity

    Conister Financial Group plc is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire a 9.9% interest in Equity Special Situations Limited,
the AIM listed strategic investment company for a consideration of approximately �4.453 million, satisfied by the issue of new CFG ordinary
shares to ESS and cash.

    CFG will acquire 2,042,705 new ordinary shares in ESS at a price of 218 pence per share; representing 9.9% of ESS's then issued share
capital. The investment is to be funded through the issue to ESS of 5,575,150 new ordinary shares in CFG ("Consideration Shares");
representing 9.9% of CFG's then issued share capital together with a cash payment to ESS of approximately �0.3 million.

    The ownership of a significant stake in ESS, a successful and dynamic Investment Company, is a further step in CFG's strategy to
transform itself into flagship offshore private banking and financial service group. The acquisition follows shortly after a Scheme of
Arrangement in January 2008 which created CFG as the new holding company of the former Conister Trust PLC to facilitate such acquisitions.

    ESS is incorporated in Guernsey and was floated in 2004. Its investment strategy is to purchase and hold large stakes in companies and
other investment funds and then to assist management to grow the business. Their current investments include STM Group Plc, a leading
financial services group in the international corporate and trustee service provider sector, based in Gibraltar; Syndicated Asset Management
plc, an AIM listed asset management and asset management consolidation company with nearly �6 billion under management; and Daniel Stewart
Securities Plc an integrated financial services company comprising corporate finance, capital markets and leasing.

    Working closely with ESS and its investee companies will provide a range of potential synergies for CFG and should provide a platform
for further acquisitions and wider distribution of its private banking services.

    For the half year ended 30 June 2007 ESS reported net assets of �21.5m equivalent to a net asset value per share of 152p and a net
return of �2.3m equivalent to an EPS of 16.4 pence per share (6.4 pence per share for the year ended 31 December 2006). ESS will publish its
audited results of the year ended 31 December 2007 shortly.

    Since its flotation in 2004 ESS's share price has shown impressive progress increasing from 50 pence to over �2 currently, with NAV per
share in its underlying investments showing similar growth.

    Application for the Consideration Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM has been made and it is expected that the Consideration Shares
will begin trading on AIM on 26 June 2008. The Consideration Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in issue.
Following the issue of the Consideration Shares, the Company will have a total of 56,314,652 ordinary shares in issue.

     Arron Banks, Chief Executive of CFG, commented:
    "We have been following the progress of ESS for more than a year and believe that this strategic relationship will be of great benefit
for both groups. We anticipate that, over the coming months, significant synergies will be created and additional business and investment
opportunities will evolve. The new management team at CFG is currently reviewing a number of strategic transactions within the financial
services sector and we look forward to gaining from ESS's input."


     Peter Griffin, Director of ESS, commented:
    "During our operational reviews towards the end of 2007 and early 2008 , it became clear that it would be of great benefit to the
Company to have a strong relationship with a bank in order to complement the other companies within the ESS portfolio. We have been working
on obtaining a significant stake in a private bank for almost nine months now and we are delighted to have concluded a deal with CFG. We
expect to work closely with CFG's management going forward in generating interesting business proposals for them from our existing portfolio
companies and from other companies that join us in the future."










    For further information please contact:

    Conister Financial Group plc
    Arron Banks/Chris Johnstone 
    Tel: 07918 608480

    Beaumont Cornish Limited
    Roland Cornish 
    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396

    Britton Financial PR
    Tim Blackstone
    Tel: +44 (0) 20 7251 2544 / 07957 140416

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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