Connells Limited made an offer to acquire Countrywide plc (LSE:CWD) from Brandes International Partners, Ltd., Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Hosking Partners LLP, Schroder Investment Management Limited and others for approximately £130 million on October 26, 2020. Connells Limited entered into an agreement to acquire Countrywide plc from Brandes International Partners, Ltd., Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Hosking Partners LLP, Schroder Investment Management Limited and others on December 31, 2020. Under the terms of transactions, Connells Limited will pay £2.5 per share. As of December 7, 2020, Connells Limited revised the cash offer price from £2.5 per share to £3.25 per share. As of December 31, 2020, Connells Limited revised the cash offer price from £3.25 per share to £3.95 per share. The increased cash consideration values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Countrywide at approximately £134.4 million. As on January 25, 2021, Connells bought Alchemy's 2.7% stake in Countrywide. The cash consideration payable by Connells to Countrywide Shareholders under the terms of the offer will be funded from £145 million an intra-group credit facility to be provided by Skipton Building Society. Connells envisages that the business of Countrywide would continue to operate materially in the same way without significant disruption to either the Connells or Countrywide businesses once Countrywide has been fully integrated with Connells. Following the effective date, a request will be made to the FCA to cancel trading in Countrywide Shares and to de-list Countrywide from the Official List, following which Countrywide would be re-registered as a private limited company. The non-Executive Directors of Countrywide will each be expected to resign from his or her office as a Countrywide Director upon completion of the acquisition. Connells does not anticipate making any material changes to the locations or functions of Countrywide's branch network. As part of the integration process, Connells will review head office functions at Countrywide and Connells and consider opportunities to consolidate certain functions and premises. Certain head office functions could be co-located either at Connells' head office or Countrywide's head office which are only nine miles apart. The acquisition will be implemented by way of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement between Countrywide and the Countrywide Shareholders. The deal is conditional upon, amongst other things, completion of confirmatory due diligence, the recommendation of the Board of Countrywide, approval of shareholders of Countrywide at the Court Meeting and who represent not less than 75% in value of the Countrywide Shares voted by those Countrywide Shareholders, approval of Financial Conduct Authority and other customary closing conditions. Offer is conditional to minimum acceptance of 90% of the voting rights of Countrywide. Transaction is not conditional on clearance from the UK Competition and Markets Authority. As on December 2, 2020, the Board of Countrywide reviewed the cash offer and unanimously rejected it. As of December 31, 2020, based on the advice from Jefferies and Barclays, Countrywide Directors consider the terms of the acquisition to be fair and reasonable. Accordingly, the Countrywide Directors intend unanimously to recommend that Countrywide Shareholders vote in favor of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the resolutions relating to the acquisition at the Countrywide General Meeting. Connells has received written confirmations of support for the Acquisition from Countrywide Shareholders in respect of, in aggregate, 16,751,287 Countrywide Shares, representing approximately 51.03% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of Countrywide. As of January 7, 2021, Connells acquired the entire shareholding of 1,919,995 Countrywide Shares held by Schroder Investment Management, representing approximately 5.85% and Connells now owns or has received irrevocable support for approximately 52.30% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of Countrywide. As on January 22, 2021, Connells now owns or has received irrevocable support for approximately 55.13% of the existing issued ordinary share capital of Countrywide. As on February 15, 2021, the requisite majority of Scheme Shareholders voted to approve the Scheme at the Court Meeting and the requisite majority of Countrywide Shareholders voted to pass the Special Resolution to implement the Scheme and the acquisition remains subject to approval of FCA. As of February 25, 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority has approved the transaction. As of February 25, 2021, the Scheme Court Hearing, at which the Court will be asked to sanction of the Scheme, has been scheduled on March 4, 2021. Transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021. As of January 22, 2021, transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2021. On March 4, 2021, Countrywide is pleased to announce that the High Court of Justice in England and Wales has sanctioned the Scheme. There has been no change to the expected timetable of principal events for the Acquisition set out. The last day of dealings in, and for the registration and transfer of the Countrywide Shares will therefore be March 5, 2021. The de-listing of Countrywide Shares from the premium listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and the cancellation of the admission to trading of Countrywide Shares on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities have also been applied for and will, subject to the Scheme becoming Effective March 9, 2021.The transaction is expected to complete on March 8, 2021. Paul Nicholls, Paul Bundred and William Brown of Jefferies International Limited, Robert Mayhew, Richard Bassingthwaighte, Osman Akkaya and Stuart Muress of Barclays Bank PLC acted as financial advisors and Slaughter and May acted as legal advisor to Countrywide. Edward Banks and Tariq Ennaji of Evercore Partners International LLP acted as financial advisors and Clifford Chance LLP acted as legal advisor to Connells Limited and Skipton, parent of Connells Limited. Link Market Services Limited acted as registrar for Countrywide. Connells Limited completed the acquisition of Countrywide plc (LSE:CWD) from Brandes International Partners, Ltd., Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Hosking Partners LLP, Schroder Investment Management Limited and others on March 8, 2021. As on March 8, 2021, Countrywide duly announces that Stephen Shipperley, David Livesey, David Plumtree, Richard Twigg and David Cutter have been appointed to the Countrywide Board, and Philip Bowcock, Himanshu Raja, David Watson, Natalie Ceeney CBE, Lisa Charles-Jones, Rupert Gavin, Caleb Kramer, Amanda Rendle and Mark Shuttleworth have tendered their resignations as Directors and have stepped down from the Countrywide Board.