As detailed in recent announcements, Ridgecrest plc (AIM:RDGC) is in discussions to invest a significant proportion of its existing cash resources in a business within the hospitality sector and a heads of terms agreement is being prepared. The Company is considering acquiring a minority interest (of less than 5%) in a franchisee of a well-known high-street hospitality business. The franchisee is currently undertaking an acquisition of further franchises, which it anticipates will complete in First Quarter 2022.

If this minority investment proceeds, the Ridgecrest board expects the hospitality franchisee to seek a listing on the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market in 2022 at a valuation in excess of £50 million. It is then currently intended that Ridgecrest's shares in the hospitality franchisee will be distributed to shareholders pro rata to their holdings of shares in Ridgecrest as part of a process to wind up Ridgecrest (and any surplus cash will also be distributed to shareholders). Discussions with the hospitality franchisee and its shareholders are still in progress so there can be no guarantee that any investment by the Company will proceed or as to the terms of any such investment (including the nature of any minority protections afforded to the Company and its shareholders).