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Quintain's shares soar on activist interest

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 05:53 EDT, 23 December 2010

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Shares in property group Quintain Estates and Development jumped nearly 25% on news that a well-known activist investor has taken a stake in the company.

Activism: Laxey has a long history of forcing change on British boardrooms

Laxey Partners, which has a long record of forcing change on British boardrooms, took its holding in the firm to 5.76% last week.

The move was only announced yesterday and Quintain shares leapt 8.5p to 44.5p as investors welcomed the news amid hopes Laxey would work its magic on the company.

Quintain shares were changing hands for more than 450p in 2007 before the property market crashed. They dived below 10p last year.

The Quintain board may not be so happy to have Laxey on board, however, as it is renowned for campaigning for change to drive share prices higher.

Both Quintain and Laxey declined to comment.

Laxey has recently been at loggerheads with FTSE 100 investment firm Alliance Trust. It specialises in investing in companies it thinks are undervalued.

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