Rival extends closing date on £1.3bn Provident Financial takeover offer
Leeds-headquartered Non-Standard Financial (NSF), which publicly announced its plans for a £1.3bn hostile takeover of rival Bradford-headquartered Provident Financial in February, has this morning declared an extension of its offer for the rival firm as it states it has now received acceptances from shareholders holding over 50%.
NSF this morning stated: “In view of our strong confidence in our ability to complete the Offer, the NSF Board has decided 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 will not be extending this deadline.
“NSF expects the Offer to become or be declared wholly unconditional by 5 June 2019.”
The firm, which had previously set May 8 at the final date for the offer, added: “NSF has already received acceptances from shareholders holding over 50% of Provident’s Shares.”
NSF said it had now discussed its plans with the FCA and PRA and expects that the conditions to the offer will be satisfied by 5 June.
John van Kuffeler
John van Kuffeler, Group Chief Executive & Founder of NSF, who was previously the CEO and chairman of Provident Financial and left the company in 2013 after 22 years, also shared his thoughts about Provident Financial’s demise in a letter to shareholders this morning. In that, he claimed the culture at Provident Financial “had become more focused on profit than good customer outcomes, increasing pressure on staff to meet increasingly challenging targets and putting undue risk into business performance.”
He also claimed that “customers have been let down on numerous occasions in recent years, including as recently as Christmas 2018.” John van Kuffeler named senior employees who had left Provident recently because “culture has been allowed to drift” and added that “Provident has had to deploy extensive employee capacity to the home credit recovery plan and ROP refund scheme, thereby preventing such employees, over recent years, from being able to focus on the core business.”
Van Kuffeler added: “As a Board we care passionately about Provident, its customers, employees and shareholders. I and many of my NSF colleagues spent a significant proportion of our careers building Provident into a hugely successful company and it has been most upsetting to watch its recent significant decline. However, we know that significant potential lies within Provident and therefore have developed a detailed transformation plan that we believe will improve outcomes for customers, restore Provident’s culture so that employees can once again be proud of their place of work and unlock substantial value for shareholders.
Of the offer for Privident Financial, Van Kuffeler, said: “Our Offer and transformation plan for Provident is compelling and will benefit customers and employees as well as unlock substantial value for shareholders. It represents a clear alternative to the status quo offered by the Provident Board and, having already received acceptances from shareholders holding over 50 per cent. of Provident’s shares, we urge all remaining Provident shareholders to accept our Offer without delay.”
Van Kuffeler concluded his letter to shareholders by stating: “We saw the need for change in January 2018. Despite our firm belief in the irrefutable industrial logic of putting the two companies together and the strength of our management team, our approach was turned down flat. Following Provident’s third profit warning in January 2019, it is now clearer than ever that there is a need for change and the time for change is now.”
“We are working towards a brighter future for Provident: NSF has the management expertise and clear plan to revitalise Provident and unlock substantial value for the benefit of customers, employees and shareholders of both Provident and NSF.”
