The PREVIOUS Conservative chair Lord Ashcroft will pocket hundreds of millions from the sale of his recruitment firm, Impellam.

The businessman and Tory peer announced this morning he would sell his majority stake in the company to HeadFirst, valued at £483m.

This comes after Ashcroft notified the London-listed firm of his intention to explore selling it, last year.

Shareholders will be allowed a 55.9p dividend declared in November, in addition to more which Impellam hasn't declared yet; but which taken together will total 1,084.4p per Impellam share.

This represents a windfall of more than £300m for Lord Ashcroft, who has 28,019,055 shares.

Following the announcement, the AIM-listed firm's shares increased by more than 42 per cent. Lord Ashcroft said he is "delighted" with the deal.

Han Kolff, chair of HeadFirst, added: "This merger will be transformational, building on the complementary strengths of Impellam and HeadFirst."

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper