Business
Schroders letter to Chairman of Provident re Offer
Schroders letter to Chairman of Provident re Offer.
About this update from Vanquis Banking Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 2967Y Provident Financial PLC 08 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 \n8 May 2019\n \nProvident Financial plc (\"Provident\")\nSchroders letter to the Chairman of Provident regarding NSF's unsolicited offer\n \nA letter sent by Schroders to Provident Chairman Patrick Snowball on Tuesday 7th May regarding NSF's unsolicited offer is published below.\n \nThe Provident Board believes that the offer is significantly flawed and value destructive, and urges its shareholders to take no action in relation to NSF's offer.\n………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………\n \nSchroders\n1 London Wall Place\n \n07 May 2019\nProvident Financial Plc\n \nDear Chairman\n \nRe: NSF's offer to acquire Provident Financial (PFG)\n \nSchroders manages or administers over £420 billion on behalf of institutional and retail\ninvestors, financial institutions and high net worth clients from around the world, invested in a\nbroad range of asset classes across equities, fixed income, multi-asset and alternatives. We are\nlong term, active investors and currently hold 14.6% of PFG stock and has no holding in Non-\nStandard Finance.\n \nWe are writing to let you know that we will not be accepting NSF's offer for PFG.\n \nSchroders does not believe that NSF's offer is in the best interest of PFG shareholders. PFG has\nfaced a number of issues in recent years, but the Q1 trading statement shows that it is on track\nwith its recovery and rehabilitation. In our view, NSF's bid risks destabilising this recovery, and\nbrings additional regulatory risks and uncertainty. By issuing a deadline for acceptances that\nfalls before the outcome of the CMA investigation is known, NSF forces PFG shareholders to\nunderwrite any costs of redress blindly. It also risks creating a crisis of governance if the CMA\ninvestigation takes time to conclude.\n \nNSF faces a number of operational and regulatory challenges, including an FCA investigation of\nits guarantor lending business. We do not believe the shareholders of PFG who are also\ncollectively majority shareholders in NSF (namely Woodf...