Interserve’s largest shareholder Coltrane has dismissed the rescue plan offered for the highly indebted outsourcing company.
Coltrane’s opposition puts the outcome of the shareholder’s vote into doubt, which is currently scheduled to be held on March 15. If Coltrane unites with fellow shareholder Farringdon, already 34% of shares held will be by companies that oppose the deal.
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Interserve has a total debt of £827.9m, and has hundreds of public sector contracts in the UK. Its survival is regarded as highly desirable by a government keen to avoid a collapse which would mirror the failure of Carillion in 2018.
According to its accounts, Interserve also posted a £111m pre-tax loss for 2018. In 2017 the company reported operating losses of £220m, much of which was attributable to spiralling costs and delays in its ‘energy for waste’ projects.
Anger at the rescue plan stems in part from its provisions leaving shareholders with only 5% of the company. They would have the right to buy new shares back from the lenders, but only up to 33.3%.
Coltrane have offered an alternative rescue plan, which would give shareholders a 10% stake. The American private real estate brokerage currently holds 28% of shares in Interserve.
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By GlobalDataColtrane expressed dismay at the £76m spent by Interserve on financial restructuring advice and that the company directors have supposedly declared they would not invest any of their own money buying new shares.
In a statement to The Guardian, Coltrane said: “[The directors] are recommending a deal on which they personally are not taking up their rights. This is very rare and shows the plan is terrible.”
As well as the shareholder’s vote on the rescue deal, investors will be able to vote on a proposal by Coltrane to scrap the entire management team except for chief executive Debbie White on March 26.
Earlier signs of serious trouble with Interserve finances occurred across 2018, culminating with the company seeking a rescue deal from the UK government to help it with roughly £500m worth of debt, as Interserve lenders eyed writedowns on its debt to allow the company to survive and restructure.
Its finance costs had risen from £9.6m in H1 2017 to £31.1m in H1 2018, as lending facilities grew. Across 2017 its debts nearly doubled from £387.5m in H1 2017 to £614.3m in H1 2018.
Headquartered in Reading, Berkshire, Interserve is estimated to employ 68,000 people worldwide.
