Daily Mail - 03.03.2020

Page 70 Daily Mail, Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Sirius is teetering on the brink of
collapse after it failed to raise
£400m in a crucial funding round in
September. This would have enabled
it to finish building the mine under
the North York Moors (pictured).
Bosses are now adamant that the
firm will run out of money and col-
lapse within weeks if investors do
not accept Anglo’s offer.
Around 16.5pc of Sirius’s shares
are held through the investment
platform Hargreaves Lansdown,
which revealed over the weekend
that the ‘majority’ of individual

investors who took steps to cast

their own ballot had registered ‘no’

votes. Those who did not go through

a process to register their own vote

will have their shares automatically

counted in Hargreaves’ single vote,

which is likely to be ‘yes’.

Anglo needs 75pc of votes cast in its

favour for the deal to go through.

But the turnout for votes at Sir-

ius’s annual general meetings is

often as low as a third, meaning if

the significant backlash that Har-

greaves has reported is replicated

across the board, the deal could be

in serious jeopardy.

Last night sources in the City said

Jupiter Asset Management had

voted in favour of the takeover.

This would be a major boost as

Jupiter is Sirius’s largest share-

holder – with a 7.8pc stake.

Sirius bosses own 2.46pc of the

company and will vote in favour of

the deal, meaning more than 10pc

of votes are guaranteed to be a ‘yes’.

With Hargreaves’ votes as well, it

could be more than 20pc already.

by Francesca Washtell

Mortgages hit 4-year high

MORTGAGE lending has hit its

highest level for nearly four

years as confidence returns to

the housing market following

the general election.

Bank of England figures show

70,888 home loans for house

purchases were given the go-

ahead in January – the highest

since 72,251 in February 2016.

January’s total was 4.4pc

higher than in December, and

also well above the general

trend over the past few years.

Remortgaging approvals were

also up by 3.9pc, to around

52,100. The figures add to recent

evidence of a housing market

pick-up. Last week, Nationwide

Building Society reported that

house prices increased in Feb-

ruary at the fastest annual rate

for 19 months.

Simon Gammon, of Knight

Frank Finance, said: ‘UK lend-

ers have started the year eager

to do deals. Many that have

waited for political clarity before

making significant financial

decisions are pushing on.

‘Growth in remortgaging has

been particularly strong and the

ongoing rate war among the

High Street lenders means bor-

rowers have been spoilt for

choice when it comes to deals.’

The Bank of England’s Money

And Credit report also said that

the annual growth rate of con-

sumer credit, which includes

borrowing using credit cards,

personal loans and overdrafts,

has stabilised, remaining at

6.1pc in January.

A peak of 10.9pc annual growth

in consumer credit was reached

in late 2016.

Meanwhile, business borrow-

ing continued to follow a trend

of weakness seen during the end

of last year, the report said.

THE owner of currency exchange firm Travelex

has warned it will take a £25m hit from a cyber-

attack and the impact of coronavirus.

Finablr, which floated in London last year, said

it had now recovered from the New Year’s Eve

hack that left its systems down for weeks.

The problems meant that banks which rely on

Travelex could not sell foreign currency to cus-

tomers. In addition, coronavirus was having a

‘negative’ effect as travel has been hit.

The combined impact on first-quarter profits

would be around £25m, the company said.

Finablr, which may recover some of its losses

through insurance, is delaying 2019 results

until April.

Shares tumbled 14.9pc, or 9.1p, to 52p.

Travelex owner in

double whammy

SCANDAL-hit NMC Health has appointed a

string of heavyweight advisers to oversee an emer-

gency restructuring of its debts after its shares

were suspended last week.

The Middle East private hospital business is in

turmoil after the Financial Conduct Authority

launched an investigation following devastating

revelations about the London-listed firm’s finances

by US short-seller Muddy Waters.

Last week NMC admitted that unnamed busi-

nesses controlled by its Indian founder, BR Shetty,

and a senior associate used the firm to arrange

£260m worth of loans without telling board mem-

bers or disclosing them to investors – a breach of

stock market rules.

The firm has now hired investment bank Moelis

& Co PwC and Allen & Overy as, respectively,

financial, operational and legal advisers.

Heavyweight help

for troubled NMC

A source told the Mail the

company was also bracing for a

possible ‘no’ outcome.

Over the weekend, the source

said the company told a slew of

new hires who were meant to

start yesterday ‘that they would

not be starting and are waiting

to see which way the vote goes’.

Sirius’s deal has come under

fire from institutions as well as

individual investors.

Jupiter had urged Sirius to

search for other bids – especially

those that would keep it listed

on the stock market – but the

company said the Anglo deal

had not been trumped. It also

came under attack from major

City hedge fund Odey Asset

Management, which branded

the offer a ‘mockery’. Odey had

built a 1.4pc stake in Sirius –

which it used to vote ‘no’.

Some people have lost their

pensions and entire life savings

in the company, whose shares

were trading above 20p for much

of the past five years and peaked

at nearly 44p in 2016.

On investor forums, some have

said they hope that by voting

against the takeover, another

bidder will swoop in at the last

minute and offer more money.

And others have even formed

conspiracy theories that Sirius

and Anglo plotted the takeover

before Sirius’s share price col-

lapsed in September when it

failed to secure the £400m bond.

Sirius was approached for

comment last night.

SHARES in Sirius Minerals

plunged ahead of a crunch vote on
a controversial takeover that will

determine the company’s future.
Investors will today decide whether
to sell the Yorkshire potash miner to
FTSE 100-listed mining group Anglo
American for £405m, or risk it run-
ning out of cash and collapsing
into administration.
Anglo has offered to pay 5.5p per share
for Sirius’s stock. But Sirius shares fell by
2.3pc to close at 4.3p last night – having
tumbled as low as 3.7p earlier in the day

• as fears mounted that angry sharehold-
  ers could scupper the rescue deal.
  If the deal is voted down and the com-
  pany does collapse within weeks, as Sir-
  ius bosses have warned, shareholders will
  be left with nothing.
  The vote is believed to be on a knife-
  edge amid reports that swathes of pri-
  vate investors have shot it down in pro-
  test because they believe the price tag is
  far too cheap. Sirius has an estimated
  85,000 retail shareholders who own
  around 50pc of its stock – making it far
  more important to gain the backing of
  individual investors than it would be with
  most other takeovers.

Sirius faces

do-or-die

investor vote

0

10

20

30

40

2018 2019 2020

Close:

4.34p

Pence

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NEW! WATCH

STRICTLY BUSINESS

TESLA: overpriced or undervalued? Alex Brummer

and Ruth Sunderland go head-to-head

mailplus.co.uk/briefings

NEW! WATCH

STRICTLY BUSINESS

TESLA: overpriced or

undervalued? Alex Brummer and

Ruth Sunderland go head-to-head

mailplus.co.uk/briefings

Crunch time:

Sirius chief

executive

Chris Fraser