London—Dentons has advised Bilby Plc ("the Group"), the AIM-listed gas heating, electrical and building services provider, on the share sale by its founder and Deputy Chairman, Phil Copolo, following his decision to retire from the business and resign from the Board.

Concurrently, Phil Copolo and Leigh Copolo – Group Operations Director who has also resigned from the Board and left the business – have sold their entire holdings in the Group comprising 12,596,896 ordinary shares of 10p each, representing 31.26 per cent of the Group's total issued share capital, at a price of 100p to a number of new institutional shareholders.

Bilby has also announced changes to the board with immediate effect. David Ellingham, formerly Group Finance Director, has been appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer; Lee Venables, Managing Director of the Group's largest subsidiary, Purdy Contracts Limited, has been appointed to the Board as Executive Director; and Chris Webster, founder of subsidiary DCB Kent Limited, has been appointed to the Board as Executive Director.

Dentons Corporate partner Neil Nicholson, who led on the advice to Bilby, said, "We are very pleased to have assisted Bilby with this share sale and the subsequent changes to its management. The business has seen considerable growth since its 2015 IPO and will no doubt continue to thrive with new institutional shareholders on board, who are fully supportive of Bilby's stated organic and 'buy and build' growth strategies."

Sangita Shah, Non-Executive Chairman of Bilby, said, "Our new management team is well placed to ensure the Group continues to effectively take advantage of the significant opportunities that the market continues to present. We welcome our new shareholders to Bilby who have recognised these opportunities and fully support our strategy to capitalise on them.

"We are also grateful to the team at Dentons for their support on this matter. They have been with us for several years and we value their counsel as trusted advisers to our business."

Bilby is a longstanding client of Dentons. The Firm previously advised on the company's admission to the AIM market in March 2015.

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