Business
Court Sanction of Scheme of Arrangement
The Court has sanctioned the scheme of arrangement for the recommended cash and share acquisition of Empiric Student Property PLC by The Unite Group PLC. The scheme is expected to become effective on January 28, 2026, with the Scheme Record Time set for January 27, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. Trading in Empiric shares on the Main Market and its listing on the Official List are expected to be suspended from 7:30 a.m. on January 28, 2026, with cancellation anticipated by 8:00 a.m. on January 29, 2026. Empiric has confirmed its issued share capital consists of 665,267,013 ordinary shares. Disclaimer*
About this update from Unite Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\nNOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION.\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n 26 January 2026\nRECOMMENDED CASH AND SHARE ACQUISITION\nof\nEMPIRIC STUDENT PROPERTY PLC (\"EMPIRIC\")\nby\nTHE UNITE GROUP PLC (\"UNITE\")\nby means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement\nunder Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006\nCourt Sanction of Scheme of Arrangement & Rule 2.9 Announcement\n \nOn 14 August 2025, the boards of directors of The Unite Group PLC (\"Unite\") and Empiric Student Property plc (\"Empiric\") announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash and share offer pursuant to which Unite will acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Empiric (the \"Acquisition\"). The Acquisition is to be implemented by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act (the \"Scheme\"), full details of which were sent, or made available, to Empiric Shareholders in the circular dated 9 September 2025 (the \"Scheme Document\").\nCapitalised terms used in this announcement shall, unless otherwise defined, have the same meanings as set out in the Scheme Document. All references to times in this announcement are to London, United Kingdom times unless otherwise stated.\nOn 6 October 2025, Empiric announced that the requisite majority of Scheme Shareholders had approved the Scheme at the Court Meeting held on 6 October 2025 and that the special resolution to, among other things, implement the Scheme was passed by the requisite majority of Empiric Shareholders at the General Meeting, also held on 6 October 2025.\nCourt sanction \nFurther to the earlier announcements made by Empiric in relation to the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals on 27 November 2025 and the result of the Court Meeting and General Meeting on 6 October 2025, Empiric is pleased to announce that the Court has today sanctioned the Scheme.\nThe Scheme remains conditional on, and will become Effective upon, the delivery of a copy of the Court Order to the Registrar of Companies for registration, which is expected to take place on 28 January 2026. On such delivery of the Court Order, the Scheme will become Effective, and a furt...