Listed law firm Ince’s takeover of corporate adviser and stockbroker Arden looks set to go ahead despite last week’s rejection by the London Stock Exchange of Arden’s application for nominated adviser status.

The parties agreed a £10m deal last October following an offer by Ince to buy the entire share capital of Arden, whose shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the acquisition in January.

A condition of the takeover was that the London Stock Exchange (LSE) had to determine that Arden remained eligible to act as a nominated adviser in accordance with Alternative Investment Market rules following the change of control.

The stock exchange rejected Arden’s application for approval of its nominated adviser status if the takeover goes ahead, causing Arden’s shares to drop by nearly 20% last Thursday.

However, both companies said in a statement to the stock exchange today that Ince’s board has decided to waive the condition that Arden could still act as a nominated adviser and that the firm ‘intends to complete the acquisition’.

This will mean that, following the change of control, 'Arden will no longer be able to provide nominated adviser services,’ the companies said. ‘Although this is a significant change, the board of Ince believes that Arden’s reputation is primarily built around its ability to raise money for its clients and provide other broking and advisory services and therefore the loss of its nominated adviser licence should not materially impact Arden’s brand and ability to engage new clients nor its ability to provide fund raising and corporate broking services.’

They also said that ‘the strategic rationale for the acquisition … which focuses on expanding the enlarged group’s client base and deal flow fundamentally remains the same’.

Arden said it will now ask the High Court to sanction the scheme, adding: ‘A further announcement, setting out the timetable for the completion of the acquisition, including the court hearing to sanction the scheme and the cancellation of the admission to trading of Arden’s ordinary shares, will be notified as soon as practicable.’

Arden’s shares were up by just over 10% to 15.5p following today’s news while Ince’s shares fell by more than 5% to 26.5p.