Tuesday 28 May 2019 8:45 am | Updated: Tuesday 18 June 2019 2:18 am

M&G Investments rejects hostile takeover of Provident Financial

M&G Investments has announced that it will reject a hostile takeover of Provident Financial by rival sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance.

The investment firm, which owns 1.7 per cent of Provident’s stock, has joined Schroders and Coltrane in confirming it will refuse to back the deal.

Shareholders of around 20.2 per cent of Provident shares have said they do not intend to accept the bid. However, NSF lowered the level of acceptances it needed to push forward with its takeover plans from 90 per cent to 50 per cent.

“M&G is supportive of Provident’s current strategy and does not believe that a combination with NSF and subsequent break up of the enlarged group will create value for Provident shareholders,” M&G said in a statement this morning.

Earlier this month NSF said that investors holding 53.53 per cent of Provident’s issued share capital had accepted the deal and declared that the offer was unconditional in terms of acceptances by investors.

Investors Neil Woodford, Invesco and Marathon have backed the offer from the beginning and together own more than 50 per cent of both firms.

The war of words between the two companies has escalated since NSF launched the takeover bid in February.

NSF has criticised the performance and strategy of its takeover target while Provident has hit back at its smaller rival, calling the offer “woeful”.