NSF abandons hostile bid for Provident Financial

Lack of shareholder support

Non-Standard Finance (NSF) has abandoned its plan to take over sub-prime lender Provident Financial Group (PFG), given the level of shareholder resistance.

Non-Standard Finance (NSF) has abandoned its plans to take over sub-prime lender Provident Financial, given the level of shareholder resistance. NSF has been pursuing a £1.3bn hostile bid of the lender for months; a bid that was backed by troubled investor Neil Woodford and his former colleague Mark Barnett at Invesco Perpetual. But high-profile rejection of the tabled bid has come from Schroders, M&G Investments, Aberdeen Standard and, just yesterday, Janus Henderson. In a statement to the stock exchange, NSF recognised it would not receive sufficient backing in order to secure re...