Renaissance completes $14m Yoobee sale

Following months of negotiations, Renaissance has completed the $14m sale of the Yoobee School of Design with the Academic Colleges Group (ACG).

In a statement released by chairman Colin Giffney, the deal was completed in accord with the transaction shareholders approved at a special general meeting on January 29.

The struggling company, facing a bleak future in the industry, the Board of Renaissance first reached a conditional agreement with ACG to sell the assets and business undertaking of its Yoobee School of Design subsidiary in October of last year.

Following the potential deal, Giffney and the board called a Special General Meeting for shareholders to consider the proposal on January 29, recommending investors vote in favour of the deal.

“Your directors have not made this decision lightly,” the shareholder letter read at the time.

“Considering all the issues facing Renaissance, we believe this course is in the best interests of all shareholders. There are many factors behind the decision.

“At its core, directors are charged with delivering value to shareholders. Selling YSD is seen as the quickest and most certain way of achieving this.

“For some time there had been a substantial gap between our share price and underlying value of our business. Only the prospect of this sale has exposed that gap.”

Shareholders hoping to receive some cash from the sale, however, might be disappointed, with Giffney noting that the company’s preference is to ‘fix retail first – whatever that may entail.'