Business
NSF's continued failure to respond to questions
NSF's continued failure to respond to questions.
About this update from Vanquis Banking Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 6555X Provident Financial PLC 01 May 2019 \n\nNOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION\n \nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n \n01 May 2019\n \nProvident (\"Provident\")\nNSF's continued failure to respond to key questions on the Offer\n \nThe Provident Board notes the announcement from NSF on 29 April, which it believes falls far short of providing satisfactory responses to shareholders and yet again demonstrates a disregard for Provident shareholder value. NSF's announcement does nothing to allay the Provident Board's significant concerns around the strategic, operational and financial merits of the Offer. The Board continues to believe that the Offer undervalues Provident and that NSF's plans for the business could also result in material value destruction for Provident Shareholders. In addition, the Board continues to question the suitability and competence of the NSF management team, which has overseen unlawful distributions, to run Provident's much larger, more complex and dual-regulated business, in particular Vanquis Bank.\n \nThe Provident Board would like to draw the attention of Provident Shareholders to the following highly concerning elements of NSF's latest announcement: \n \n1. NSF's revised timetable leaves Provident Shareholders exposed to a potential blind and uncosted remedy from the Competition and Markets Authority (\"CMA\")\nThe Provident Board notes that NSF has elected to set 15 May 2019 as the revised closing date of the Offer and the last date on which the Offer can be declared unconditional as to acceptances. NSF has still not managed to commence the formal CMA review of the Offer and consequently cannot expect a decision by the CMA for at least a further two months. The freeze of the Takeover Code timetable announced by the Panel on 15 April 2019 allowed NSF to declare its Offer unconditional as to acceptances after the Phase 1 decision, which would have given Provident Shareholders the opportunity to make a fully informed decision about whether to accept the Offer. NSF has instead stated its intention for the Offer to be declared wholly unconditional by 5 June 2019, and in ord...