Interserve boss warns rescue plan is last hope
SHARES in Interserve fell yesterday as concerns mounted it will lose a key investor vote and collapse.
The ailing outsourcer’s stock slumped 3pc after chairman Glyn Barker warned it will run out of money and plunge into administration unless shareholders back a rescue package.
On Friday, they will vote on a bailout that would drastically reduce the company’s crippling £631m debt pile. It would hand 95pc of its ownership to lenders and leave shareholders with just 5pc.
Interserve needs more than 50pc of votes cast in its favour – but has been challenged by its biggest investor, US hedge fund Coltrane Asset Management.
If the vote is lost it is likely the group will go into administration on Friday – and shareholders will lose everything.
Interserve, which employs 68,000 and works for schools and hospitals across Britain, said if the deal does not go through business will continue as usual, as it will delist its shares and work on all its contracts as a private company.
Coltrane owns around 28pc of Interserve and has tabled a rival proposal which would see the outsourcer raise £110m from shareholders and leave lenders with 55pc of the company.
Interserve argued Coltrane’s plan would leave debt levels too high. Shareholder advisory groups Glass Lewis, Institutional Shareholder Services and Pirc, as well as 4.6pc shareholder Aberdeen Standard Investments, have all backed Interserve’s deal.
Interserve declined to comment last night.