8 March
2024
Asia Strategic Holdings
Ltd.
("Asia
Strategic" or the "Company")
Grant of Options
Issuance of Shares in lieu of
bonuses
PDMR / Director
Shareholdings
and Total Voting
Rights
Asia Strategic Holdings
Ltd. (LSE: ASIA), the independent developer and manager
of consumer businesses located in emerging Asia, today
announces the Company has granted options over a total of 55,000
ordinary shares of no par value to a director of the Group. In
addition, the Company has satisfied cash payments of annual bonuses
payable to certain employees through the issuance of new ordinary
shares in the Company.
Grant of Options and PDMR/Director
Shareholding
The Company announces that on 7
March 2024 the Company granted options over a total of 55,000
ordinary shares of no par value to a director of the Group, of
which 9,500 were under the Company's 2017 employee share option
plan ("2017 ESOP"), 32,000 were under the Company's 2022 employee
share option plan ("2022 ESOP") and 13,500 were under the Company's
2024 employee share option plan ("2024 ESOP").
The 55,000 share options, which
represent 1.85% of the Company's current issued share capital, are
being granted to a PDMR of the Company as follows:
|
Director / PDMR
|
Options granted
|
|
Jonathan Geoffrey Kolb, Chief
Financial Officer (board position)
|
55,000
|
All options are exercisable at a
price of US$11 in accordance with the conditions of the
ESOPs and subject to the following time vesting
conditions:
·
First anniversary from grant date: 40% of the
option for 2022 ESOP and 2024 ESOP.
·
Second anniversary from grant date: Further 50% of
the option for 2017 ESOP; 40% of the option for 2022 ESOP and 2024
ESOP.
·
Third anniversary from grant date: Further 30% of
the option for 2017 ESOP; 20% of the option for 2022 ESOP and 2024
ESOP.
·
Fourth anniversary from grant date: Further 20%
for 2017 ESOP.
Including this grant, total options
granted to date (net of any options lapsed) amount to 413,500
equating to 13.7% of the Company's current issued share
capital.
Issuance of Shares in lieu of bonuses
In line with previous years, the
Company announces that, in lieu of cash payments, annual bonuses
payable to certain of the Company's senior employees (including
certain executive directors of the Company) relating to the
financial period ended 30 September 2023 will be
satisfied through the issuance of new ordinary shares in the
Company, as detailed in the Company's results for the 12-month
period to 30 September 2023 published on 31 January
2024.
The Company's management
acknowledges the performance and contributions of its employees
during the period. The Board agreed that certain annual bonuses for
the period will be paid through the issuance of new shares in the
Company.
Taking into consideration the
recommendations of the Remuneration Committee of the Company,
the Directors propose annual bonuses for a cumulative value
of US$280,000 to be satisfied through the issue of 56,000
new ordinary shares in the Company at a price of US$5 per
share (being the Company's closing bid price as at 7 March
2024) (the "2023 Bonus Shares"). These include the issue of certain
of the 2023 Bonus Shares to the following directors of the
Company:
|
Director / PDMR
|
2023 Bonus Shares issued
|
|
Enrico Cesenni, Chief Executive
Officer
|
25,000
|
|
Alain Thibault, Chief Operating
Officer (non-board)
|
25,000
|
Further information is set out in
the PDMR disclosure tables below.
Admission and Total Voting Rights
An application is expected to be
made shortly for the 2023 Bonus Shares to be listed on the
standard segment of the Official List of the UK Listing
Authority and admitted to trading on the London Stock
Exchange's main market for listed securities ("Admission"). It
is expected that Admission will become effective and that dealings
in the 2023 Bonus Shares will commence at 8.00
a.m. on 13 March 2024 (representing 1.89% of the
Company's existing issued share capital).
Following Admission, the Company
will have a total of 3,021,920 ordinary shares in issue. The above
figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if
they are required to notify their interest in, or change to their
interest in, the share capital of the Company under
the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
For more information, please
visit www.asia-strategic.com or
contact:
|
Asia Strategic
Holdings Ltd.
Richard Greer, Independent Non-Executive
Chairman
Enrico Cesenni (OSI), Founder and Chief
Executive Officer
|
richard@asia-strategic.com
enrico@asia-strategic.com
|
|
Allenby Capital
Limited (Broker)
Nick Athanas
Nick Naylor
Lauren Wright
|
+44 (0)20 3328 5656
|
|
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial
PR)
Sarah Hollins
Bessie Elliot
|
+44 (0) 20 3004 9512
|
Notes to editors
Asia Strategic Holdings Ltd. (LSE:
ASIA) is an independent developer and operator of consumer
businesses in Emerging Asia, specifically Vietnam and Myanmar, two
of the world's fastest-growing economies. The company's portfolio
focuses on Education and Services.
Education:
the company operates brands in English language learning, coding,
K-12 international school, and tertiary education, with 20 schools
serving approximately 8,700 students at 30 September
2023.
The company entered into an
exclusive agreement with Wall Street English in 2017 for operating
rights to Myanmar and secured rights to operate Wall Street English
Vietnam through an acquisition in 2020. At September 2023, Wall
Street English Myanmar operated five schools and served ca.
3,700 students, while Wall Street English Vietnam operated seven
schools and served ca. 3,700 students.
The company also signed an exclusive
agreement with Kids&Us in 2022 to offer English language
learning for children in Vietnam and Myanmar. At 30 September 2023,
Kids&Us Vietnam operated four schools and served ca. 400
students, while Kids&Us Myanmar operated one school and served
ca. 100 students.
In 2023, the Group entered into
exclusive franchising agreements with Logiscool to develop coding
schools for children in Vietnam and Myanmar. The
company opened its maiden coding school in November 2023 in Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam and its second school in December 2023 in
Yangon, Myanmar.
Yangon American International School
launched in August 2019. It is an accredited International
Baccalaureate ("IB") Primary Years Programme ("PYP") school and a
candidate school for the IB Middle Years Programme ("MYP")
accreditation. It offered up to seventh grade in this Academic Year
2023/24 and served ca. 100 students at 30 September
2023.
The company has partnerships with
Auston Institute of Management (Singapore) and Liverpool John
Moores University (UK) to offer internationally recognised
engineering and IT diplomas and degrees. Auston has two campuses in
Yangon and Mandalay and had ca. 750 enrolled students at 30
September 2023.
Services:
through its acquisition of EXERA in 2018, the Group provides
protection of assets, risk management, and secure logistics
services. EXERA employs approximately 1,400 well-trained security
officers in Myanmar. The company also manages two boutique hotels
in core tourist destinations in Myanmar under the brand Ostello
Bello.
Deploying an asset-light strategy,
Asia Strategic Holdings is well-positioned to offer investors early
exposure to the robust fundamentals of Vietnam and
Myanmar.
To receive news alerts on Asia
Strategic Holdings please sign up here under the 'RNS'
header: https://asia-strategic.com/investor-relations/
The notifications set out below are
provided in accordance with the requirements of
the EU Market Abuse Regulation.
Grant of Options
|
|
Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities
/ person closely associated
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Jonathan Geoffrey Kolb
|
|
2
|
Reason for the notification
|
|
a)
|
Position/status
|
Chief Financial Officer (board
position)
|
|
b)
|
Initial notification
/Amendment
|
Initial notification
|
|
3
|
Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant,
auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Asia Strategic Holdings
Limited
|
|
b)
|
LEI
|
213800V5GJPLFU4F6636
|
|
4
|
Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i)
each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each
date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been
conducted
|
|
a)
|
Description of the financial
instrument, type of instrument
|
Ordinary shares of no par value
each
|
|
|
|
|
Identification code
|
Identification code (ISIN)
for Asia Strategic Holdings Limited ordinary
shares: SG9999015747
|
|
|
|
|
b)
|
Nature of the transaction
|
Grant of options
|
|
c)
|
Price(s) and volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Price(s)
|
Volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
US$11
|
55,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
d)
|
Aggregated information
|
n/a
|
|
|
|
|
- Aggregated volume
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Price
|
|
|
|
|
|
e)
|
Date of the transaction
|
7 March 2024
|
|
f)
|
Place of the transaction
|
Outside a trading venue
|
Issuance of
Shares
|
|
Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities
/ person closely associated
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Enrico Cesenni
|
|
2
|
Reason for the notification
|
|
a)
|
Position/status
|
Chief Executive Officer
|
|
b)
|
Initial notification
/Amendment
|
Initial notification
|
|
3
|
Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant,
auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Asia Strategic Holdings Limited
|
|
b)
|
LEI
|
213800V5GJPLFU4F6636
|
|
4
|
Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i)
each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each
date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been
conducted
|
|
a)
|
Description of the financial
instrument, type of instrument
|
Ordinary shares of no par value
each
|
|
|
|
|
Identification code
|
Identification code (ISIN)
for Asia Strategic Holdings Limited ordinary
shares: SG9999015747
|
|
|
|
|
b)
|
Nature of the transaction
|
Issue of shares in lieu of bonuses
|
|
c)
|
Price(s) and volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Price(s)
|
Volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
US$5
|
25,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
d)
|
Aggregated information
|
n/a
|
|
|
|
|
- Aggregated volume
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Price
|
|
|
|
|
|
e)
|
Date of the transaction
|
8 March 2024
|
|
f)
|
Place of the transaction
|
Outside a trading venue
|
|
1
|
Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities
/ person closely associated
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Alain Thibault
|
|
2
|
Reason for the notification
|
|
a)
|
Position/status
|
Chief Operating Officer (non-board
position)
|
|
b)
|
Initial notification
/Amendment
|
Initial notification
|
|
3
|
Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant,
auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor
|
|
a)
|
Name
|
Asia Strategic Holdings Limited
|
|
b)
|
LEI
|
213800V5GJPLFU4F6636
|
|
4
|
Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i)
each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each
date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been
conducted
|
|
a)
|
Description of the financial
instrument, type of instrument
|
Ordinary shares of no par value
each
|
|
|
|
|
Identification code
|
Identification code (ISIN)
for Asia Strategic Holdings Limited ordinary
shares: SG9999015747
|
|
|
|
|
b)
|
Nature of the transaction
|
Issue of shares in lieu of bonuses
|
|
c)
|
Price(s) and volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Price(s)
|
Volume(s)
|
|
|
|
|
US$5
|
25,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
d)
|
Aggregated information
|
n/a
|
|
|
|
|
- Aggregated volume
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Price
|
|
|
|
|
|
e)
|
Date of the transaction
|
8 March 2024
|
|
f)
|
Place of the transaction
|
Outside a trading venue
|