Hargreaves Lansdown shareholders approve £5.4bn take-private deal

Hargreaves Lansdown’s shareholders have approved the £5.4bn take-private offer in a crucial vote.

There was some dissent, with 29% of voting shareholders seeking to block the deal for the Bristol-headquartered wealth management firm.

Investment firm Lancaster Investment Management, which has a £21m stake in Hargreaves Lansdown, has been critical of the “two-tiered offer” which will see up to 35% of the shares roll over into the new private company and is seen as benefitting larger shareholders.

This disparity was highlighted by the fact that the vote, measured by shares rather than shareholders, was 87%-13% in favour.

Hargreaves Lansdown is being bought by a consortium of bidders made up of buyout giant CVC, Copenhagen’s Nordic Capital and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority-owned Platinum Ivy.

The deal was finally agreed in August, after a deadline had been pushed back three times since the original proposal was agreed in June. Several lower bids from the consortium had been rejected.