Cattles launches bid to stave off administration
Dec 1 2010 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
SPECIALIST lender Cattles is making a last-ditch bid to stave off administration.
The Birstall-based firm is offering to pay bondholders just £49m of the £750m they are owed, while shareholders would receive 1p per share.
If the offer is rejected when shareholders and creditors are given the opportunity to vote in the new year, the management will put the company into administration.
The proposal was revealed as Cattles released results showing it made pre-tax losses of £685.4m in 2009 against losses of £764.6m the previous year.
The rescue package already has the backing of some of the firm’s biggest creditors.
As part of the deal, Cattles would be run by a “shell” company called Bovess, under the same management team/ Bovess would continue to collect its loans, some of which have a lifespan of two years.
It would also allow the company to preserve jobs – at least in the short-term – as it could gradually reduce its 2,800 staff, whereas administrators might make drastic redundancies. The terms of the offer have been thrashed out.
