‘Peanuts’ for Slater investors

SLATER and Gordon shareholders have lashed out at the struggling law firm after it won approval for a salvage deal that hands control of the company to hedge funds.

Small-scale investors say their shares are now barely worth “peanut shells” after most shareholders backed the rescue plan at the group’s annual meeting yesterday.

Under the recapitalisation deal, hedge funds led by New York-based Anchorage Capital Group are seizing a 95 per cent stake in the law firm.

The other 5 per cent will be owned by existing shareholders, including long-suffering investors who have witnessed a dramatic slump in the price of Slater and Gordon shares over the past two years.

Shares in the group were trading above $7.80 a disastrous acquisition in Britain.