AMI

The patience of long-suffering investors in Amicrest (AMI:PLUS) is about to be rewarded. The group’s chairman, Gerry Lee, confirmed at last week’s AGM that he had accepted an offer worth £8.45 million (or 175p per share) for its Tib Street Manchester property.

As previously reported in Shares, rebels led by private investor David MacMullen had called for the 0.6-acre plot of land to be sold off. They had branded Lee’s strategy to develop the site into an eight-story office block as too risky.

The purchaser of Tib Street has exchanged contracts, paid a deposit and completion on the deal is due at the end of the month. Apart from this site, which is Amicrest’s main asset, the group owns the leasehold on a flat in Baltic Quay, London, and has freehold interests in 70 apartments in Manchester. These assets will be sold too.

Lee confirmed he was in discussions with the group’s auditors about ways of returning any payment for Tib Street to shareholders without affecting their status under the Business Enterprise Scheme (BES). Given their unquoted status, original investors in Amicrest shares received 40% income tax relief under BES, which is the pre-cursor of today’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Shares currently trade at 160p.

The writer holds shares in this company