IQE plc
Cardiff, UK
11 May 2020
Director/PDMR Shareholding
IQE plc (AIM: IQE, "IQE" or the "Group"), the leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductor wafer products for the global semiconductor industry, was notified on 7 May 2020 that Dr Drew Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, has delivered a further 1,121,711 ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) to Equities First Holdings (“EFH”), having received a margin call under the terms of his sale and repurchase agreement with EFH, first announced on 06 August 2019 (“the Agreement”). The total number of Ordinary Shares subject to the Sale and Repurchase Agreement is now 12,121,711 Ordinary Shares (“EFH Sale Shares”).
Under the terms of the Agreement, Dr Nelson is obligated to repurchase (and EFH is obligated to sell to Dr Nelson) 11,000,000 of these EFH Sale Shares at the end of a three year term, ending on 02 August 2022, and at the same time EFH will return the 1,121,711 additional margin call shares. The price at which he has sold and is required to repurchase the 11,000,000 EFH Sale Shares is 43.96 pence per share. The Agreement provides that he has transferred all title and waives his voting rights in these EFH Sale Shares. However, under the terms of the agreement, EFH is prohibited from short selling or voting the EFH Sale Shares during the term of the agreement. Furthermore, EFH will pay Dr Nelson income that reflects any dividends as they arise from all of these EFH Sale Shares during the entire period, as if Dr Nelson had continued to own all the EFH Sale Shares himself.
Following the transaction, Dr Nelson, including persons closely associated, maintains a beneficial interest in 36,140,417 Ordinary Shares, representing 4.54% of the Company’s issued share capital.
The notification set out below is provided in accordance with the requirements of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.
Notification of a Transaction pursuant to Article 19(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014
| 1. | Details of the Person discharging managerial responsibilities (“PDMR”) / person closely associated with them (“PCA”) | |
| a) | Name | Dr Andrew Nelson |
| 2. | Reason for the notification | |
| a) | Position / status | PDMR (CEO) |
| b) | Initial notification / amendment | Initial notification |
| 3. | Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor | |
| a) | Name | IQE plc |
| b) | Legal Entity Identifier | 213800Y33WHD3ESJJP16 |
| 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 | Ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company GB0009619924 |
| b) | Nature of the transaction | Delivered a further 1,121,711 Ordinary Shares to Equities First Holdings under the terms of a sale and repurchase agreement with Equities First Holdings, first announced on 06 August 2019 |
| c) | Price(s) and volume(s) | 1,121,711 ordinary shares |
| d) | Aggregated information
| 1,121,711 ordinary shares |
| e) | Date of the transaction(s) | 07 May 2020 |
| f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue |
Contacts:
IQE plc
+44 (0) 29 2083 9400
Drew Nelson
Tim Pullen
Amy Barlow
Peel Hunt LLP (Nomad and Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7418 8900
Edward Knight
Nick Prowting
Citigroup Global Markets Limited (Joint Broker)
+44 (0) 20 7986 4000
Christopher Wren
Peter Catterall
Headland Consultancy (Financial PR)
+ 44 (0) 20 38054822
Andy Rivett-Carnac: +44 (0) 7968 997 365
Tom James: +44 (0)78 1859 4991
ABOUT IQE
IQE is the leading global supplier of advanced compound semiconductor wafers and materials solutions that enable a diverse range of applications across:
- handset devices
- global telecoms infrastructure
- connected devices
- 3D sensing
As a scaled global epitaxy wafer manufacturer, IQE is uniquely positioned in this market which has high barriers to entry. IQE supplies the whole market and is agnostic to the winners and losers at chip and OEM level. By leveraging the Group’s intellectual property portfolio including know-how and patents, it produces epitaxy wafers of superior quality, yield and unit economics.
IQE is headquartered in Cardiff UK, with c. 650 employees across nine manufacturing locations in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore, and is listed on the AIM Stock Exchange in London.