Man Group begins $100m share repurchase programme

Man Group began its share repurchase programme in earnest on Monday, confirming it was seeking to bring back up to $100m of its own stock for future employee incentives, or cancellation.

The FTSE 250 firm said its stated policy was to distribute available capital surpluses to shareholders over time, by way of higher dividend payments and share repurchases, while maintaining a prudent balance sheet after taking into account required capital and potential strategic opportunities.

In line with that policy, and its previous announcement on 12 April, it confirmed that it agreed to enter into an irrevocable, non-discretionary arrangement with JP Morgan Securities to repurchase, on its behalf, ordinary shares up to a maximum consideration of $100m.

Subject to certain pre-set parameters, the repurchase would take place from Monday, up to and including 30 April 2019, including during any closed or prohibited period of the company.

“The purpose of the programme is to reduce the share capital of the company - any shares repurchased for this purpose will be cancelled - and to enable the company to meet obligations arising from employee share option programmes, or other allocations of shares to employees of the company or to members of the administrative, management or supervisory bodies of the company or an associate of the company - any shares repurchased for this purpose will be held in treasury,” the board explained in its statement.

“The number of shares to be acquired is estimated to be around 37.5 million, based on the prevailing share price and sterling-to-dollar exchange rate as at the date immediately prior to this announcement.”

A proportion of shares purchased under the programme would be held in treasury and the remaining shares would be cancelled, the board confirmed.