Digital 9 Infrastructure gets regulatory approval to sell Verne Global

Digital 9 Infrastructure surged on Wednesday after saying it had received regulatory approval to sell Verne Global, paving the way for it to potentially wind down and return funds to shareholders.

The proposed wind-down plan - which is due to be voted on by shareholders on 25 March - includes the sale of data centre solutions firm Verne Global.

Digital 9 was due to sell Verne to Ardian France in February, but the transaction was delayed for up to 125 days by the Icelandic Regulatory Approval body.

However, in a statement on Wednesday, Digital 9 said the transaction was approved b the Iceland Regulatory body on Tuesday. This completes the list of statutory approvals required for the Verne transaction in both Iceland and Finland, it said.

Digital 9 said all closing conditions related to the Verne transaction have now been satisfied.

"Although, at this stage, the Change of Control Consent is still conditional, the company is confident that all conditions which will need to be met have either already been satisfied or will be satisfied shortly before completion of the Verne transaction," it said.

Closing of the transaction is now expected to take place before the end of the first quarter.

At 0940 GMT, the shares were up 23% at 23.27p.