Business
Response to announcement from the CMA
Response to announcement from the CMA.
About this update from Vanquis Banking Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 4335A Provident Financial PLC 29 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 \n29 May 2019\nProvident Financial plc (\"Provident\")\n \nResponse to announcement from the Competition and Markets Authority (\"CMA\")\nProvident notes the announcement from the CMA today stating that it has commenced its investigation into the unsolicited Offer from Non-Standard Finance plc (\"NSF\") for Provident and that the invitation to comment (\"ITC\") period has commenced.\nNSF has acknowledged that the Offer is likely to lead to a substantial lessening of competition (\"SLC\") in the home collected credit industry. As such, the Offer is likely to require a Phase 2 review, unless a suitable remedy is agreed with the CMA. \nThe Provident Board has raised significant concerns in relation to NSF's proposed remedy of the demerger of Loans at Home, including:\n§ Loans at Home's viability and sustainability as a standalone business; \n§ the cost of demerging Loans at Home with sufficient capital to fund itself on a debt-free basis; and \n§ the possibility that the Government's Good Work Plan, which sets out wide-ranging proposals for fundamentally changing the way businesses engage with flexible and semi-flexible workforces, makes it more difficult for Loans at Home to engage self-employed workforces.\nGiven the formal investigation by the CMA only commenced today, the Provident Board further notes that it is now beyond any doubt that such investigation will not be concluded before 5 June 2019, the latest date for NSF to declare the Offer wholly unconditional. In order to declare the Offer wholly unconditional, the Provident Board believes that NSF would need to waive the CMA condition without knowing whether, or with what remedies, the combination of Provident and NSF would be approved, leaving Provident Shareholders exposed to a potential unknown and uncosted remedy, which it believes would be materially value destructive. Provident Shareholders will therefore be denied the opportunity to make a fully informed assessment of the Offer and, as previously announced, there are serious potential consequences of w...