Yahoo Finance Hargreaves Lansdown Co-Founder Says Bid Has ‘Woken’ Stock Up
(Bloomberg) -- One of Hargreaves Lansdown Plc’s billionaire founders says the takeover bid by a group of private equity buyers is reinvigorating the company’s share price after years of downward drift.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The Rise and Fall of Simon Sadler's Segantii, One of Asia's Most Successful Hedge Funds
China’s $538 Billion Deposit Exodus Supercharges Rally in Bonds
“It’s woken the stock up,” Stephen Lansdown, the investment platform’s second-largest individual shareholder, said Thursday in an interview. “It’s interesting to see that third parties are now seeing the value in Hargreaves Lansdown and looking to take advantage of it.”
Lansdown’s comments follow reports emerging Wednesday of a £4.7 billion ($6 billion) takeover bid from CVC Capital Partners, Nordic Capital and a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Lansdown’s roughly 5% stake in the UK’s largest retail investor platform is worth almost £270 million based on the buyout offer’s pricing.
The Bristol, England-based company’s board rejected the consortium’s offer — which was made in late April — along with an earlier one for the platform that Lansdown founded more than four decades ago with Peter Hargreaves, 77, who holds a 19.8% stake worth about £925 million.
On Thursday, the company closed 14% higher in London on the buyout news at 1,120 pence per share after ending the previous day around the takeover bid’s pricing. Since hitting a record high in 2019, Hargreaves Lansdown’s share price has more than halved even with the latest gains. UK takeover rules means the consortium must declare by 5 pm on June 19 whether it will make a further offer.
The consortium said it was continuing to consider “a possible offer” for the company and a “further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.”
“It’s nice the company’s value is being recognized,” said Lansdown, 71, who declined to comment on his own stake. “Whether they’ve recognized enough value will be determined.“
Read More: Hargreaves Lansdown Rebuffs £5 Billion Offer From CVC, ADIA
Lansdown co-founded the company in 1981, initially providing information on unit trusts and tax planning. He stepped down as chairman 2009 and has since sold stock worth more than £500 million, often doing so to support his other investments such as Bristol City football club, a Botswana safari business and a golf resort in the British crown dependency of Guernsey, where he now lives.
Hargreaves stepped down as chief executive officer in 2010 and became a vocal critic of the company’s management in recent years as its share price continued to slide. He has a net worth of about $3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Chris Hill, who took over Hargreaves’s former role, left in 2022, while Deanna Oppenheimer departed as chairman last year after they both became targets of criticism from the billionaire, who is open to the take-private bid, according to Reuters. RELX Plc veteran Dan Olley is now the firm’s CEO and former Countrywide executive Alison Platt is chairman.
“I’m far more relaxed with the management team than I was before under the previous leadership,” Lansdown said. “They’re making the right noises.”
--With assistance from Loukia Gyftopoulou and Allison McNeely.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
The Dodgers Mogul and the Indian Infrastructure Giant That Wasn’t
TikTok Video Playing on Finance Bro Stereotype Becomes a Viral Hit
A Hidden Variable in the Presidential Race: Fears of ‘Trump Forever’
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
