Interserve: will its latest rescue plan save the struggling contractor?

Interserve-waste

With its largest shareholder planning to revolt against its latest rescue plan, what hope is there that Interserve will survive?

Ten minutes after announcing details of its latest rescue plan last Wednesday morning, Interserve was forced to put out another update telling the market that a New York-based hedge fund called Coltrane Asset Management, which has a 17% stake in the business, was intending to organise a shareholder revolt against the plan.

Coltrane, which made millions of pounds betting on the demise of Interserve’s rival contractor Carillion last year, wants to vote out all of the group’s board with the exception of chief executive Debbie White and is hoping to persuade other shareholders to take up the fight. In short, the rescue plan will see Interserve’s lenders cut what they’re owed by half, swapping their stakes for shares, resulting in creditors owning 97.5% of the company. Unsurprisingly, Coltrane isn’t too keen to see its stake wiped out like this and has requisitioned an extraordinary general meeting to be held by the end of March.

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