Provvy blasts ‘irresponsible’ takeover offer

A WAR of words has broken out between Provident Financial and its former boss after his firm tabled a £1.3bn takeover bid for the doorstep lender.

The doorstep lender slammed the ‘ highly opportunistic’ and ‘irresponsible’ offer from Non-Standard Finance (NSF) – run by former Provvy chief executive and chairman John van Kuffeler.

Provvy said the offer undervalues the business and includes plans that would harm its performance in the long-run, such as closing its online lender Satsuma.

But NSF hit back, criticising Provvy’s decision to delay the release of its financial results from tomorrow to March 13.

Van Kuffeler, 70, has the support of more than 50pc of Provvy shareholders, including fund manager Neil Woodford, Invesco Asset Management and Marathon Asset Management.

Unveiling his plans last week, Van Kuffeler said the group has ‘lost its way’. The firm’s share price has slumped 76pc in less than two years after it issued a profit warning in 2017 following an IT meltdown and mis-selling investigations.

Provident Financial’s chief executive Malcolm Le May said: ‘I think inherently our business is worth a lot more in future value than this bid offers.’

Le May said he would review all of the options available while the takeover process is in place, but said he believed the company was better kept together than split up.