LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Provident updated the market once again on the contentious unsolicited officer for its shares from Non-Standard Finance on Friday, reporting that 96% of shares held by independent shareholders had not been assented to the offer.
The FTSE 250 company said that, further to the public confirmation from Schroders on Tuesday that it would not be accepting NSF's offer in respect of its 14.6% shareholding in Provident, it had continued to "actively engage" with shareholders, urging them to follow Schroders' lead and reject what it called a "flawed and value destructive" offer.

It said its board and its advisers had collectively met and engaged constructively with shareholders representing around 35% of Provident shares since Tuesday, urging all shareholders to take no action and not accept the offer.

In addition, Provident noted that as per the latest acceptance report received from Non-Standard Finance as at 1530 BST on 7 May, 96% of shares held by independent shareholders had not been assented to the offer.

It said that, 11 weeks since the launch of the offer, Non-Standard Finance had only been able to secure approximately 2% incremental acceptances from Provident shareholders beyond those committed at the time of launch.

The Provident board called that a "clear signal" that the offer had "significant flaws", would be "value destructive" and was not in the best interests of independent shareholders.

The company also asserted that, despite making representations that it had been in dialogue with the Competition and Markets Authority for "several weeks" prior to announcement of its offer, as of Thursday Non-Standard Finance had still not commenced the formal CMA phase 1 review of its offer, which could take a further three months.

"This continues to highlight the serious competition problems the offer presents and, accordingly, the Provident board strongly believes the risks associated with the CMA process and outcome should not be borne by Provident shareholders," the directors said in their statement.

"The Provident board strongly urges its shareholders to take no action in relation to the NSF offer."

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