Hargreaves Lansdown Share Discussion Threads

[adamb1978] 18/6/2024 14:57

The argument for accepting the 1140p is that if you are able to own the unlisted equity in wherever you hold the shares, that portion of your consideration could be substantially higher in future.

Obviously there will be zero liquidity with it so you're tied in however private equity get few meaningful losses on this size investment so I think there's a good chance that bit could increase in value materially

[mozy123] 18/6/2024 14:55

Peter, Stephen and Nick Train really going to accept 1140p if that offer is made?

[growthpotential] 18/6/2024 14:46

I hope this is not the end of the road, would be locking in a substantial loss on this undervalued dogg at such a low price

[adamb1978] 18/6/2024 14:16

THe equity roll-over is interesting...though questioning whether that it's possible to hold unlisted equity in an ISA or SIPP. I doubt it is. That would rule out a lot of retail investors taking up the roll-over

[oggyrocks] 18/6/2024 14:09

Who's selling today at 1130. Is it worth holding out for 1140 ? Am I missing something ? Should we sell today or hold out for an extra 10p ?

[ochs] 18/6/2024 13:45

So the bid would effectively be 1,010p with a 40p dividend coming early - hardly any better than the rejected 985p bid!

[ochs] 18/6/2024 13:34

Bit of shocker - if £9-85 was considered to "substantially undervalue" the company I'm not sure why they'd even want to consider £10-50? Luckily the board themselves hold hardly any shares...

Yes it's a lot more than £7 a share, but £10-50 would still be very disappointing for long term holders.

[robinnicolson] 18/6/2024 13:33

Even if it was a final dividend of four quid a share, as opposed to forty pence a share, the bid offer would still be too low.

[con90210] 18/6/2024 13:14

£10.50 wtf! That's a terrible deal!!!

[robinnicolson] 18/6/2024 13:06

HL reportedly seeking a bid extension:

[hunter154] 18/6/2024 07:43

I think there are so many cheap asset managers out there, I would be happy with£12.50 and then redeploy the funds to another company that is also undervalued.

[stoopid] 18/6/2024 06:02

So, deadline day draws close, up 2% yesterday prob on speculation that a further offer will come. Lansdown obviously thinks there will be a further bid but it would need to be significantly higher than the 950 per share already offered to interest major holders.

[ochs] 16/6/2024 18:38

Interesting comments from 6% shareholder Stephen Lansdown in the FT - it would appear the Consortium haven't been consulting major shareholders and explaining their plans - so he is just as much in the dark as we are!

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One of Hargreaves Lansdown’s co-founders and top shareholders has warned that “price is not the main consideration” if private equity firms make a firm takeover offer for the investment platform this week.

Stephen Lansdown, who co-founded the UK’s largest retail investment service with Peter Hargreaves more than four decades ago, told the Financial Times that he would want to know what private equity firms would do with the business if they bought it. He owns a stake of nearly 6 per cent.

A group of private equity firms, led by CVC Capital Partners, made a £4.67bn offer for Hargreaves Lansdown in April, which the board rejected in the view that it “substantially undervalued” the business. Shares rose more than 15 per cent after the approach emerged.

The private equity firms, which include Nordic Capital and Platinum Ivy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, are now considering whether to make a firm offer by the deadline on Wednesday — or to walk away.

“The conglomerate — and we’re waiting to see if they come back — has given no indication of what they want to do with the business and how they see the business developing,” Lansdown said. “I would want to know what their plan is for looking after clients and staff in particular. Price is not the main consideration if it’s not taking on the business in the right way.

“I’d be very surprised if they didn’t come back with a further bid; it’s then up to the board of HL whether they bring it to the shareholders or reject.”

He added that the approach had relieved “pressure̶1; on Hargreaves Lansdown’s share price, which had fallen from £24 in 2019 to as low as £7 this year. He said that the company had also become one of the most shorted stocks on the London market.

One top 20 shareholder said that “hedge funds [shorting the stock] have completely missed the wood for the trees, ignoring the growth in customer numbers and assets that HL is consistently achieving”.

He added that other companies, such as banks, could make an approach, given Hargreaves Lansdown’s dominance of the retail investment market. “It would be impossible to build HL’s market share from scratch, so I would expect any US or European bank to be looking closely at HL if they have any ambition to build a position in one of the world’s largest pools of household wealth.”

Hargreaves Lansdown oversees £150bn in customer assets for some 1.8mn customers.

Nick Train, another top shareholder with a holding of nearly 13 per cent according to Refinitiv, said that the private equity approach was unsurprising because the stock was undervalued.

“Its prior stock market valuation had seemed exceptionally low,” Train said. “But many UK-listed asset and private wealth management franchises seem exceptionally lowly valued, too.”

Hargreaves Lansdown and the private equity consortium declined to comment.

[lomax99] 16/6/2024 17:23

Hope the bid fails if it's less than £15.66, chancers.

[stoopid] 16/6/2024 12:17

The market doesn't seem so confident of another offer. The share price has been drifting down since the initial offer. There is no guarantee another bid will come. A bid of over £14 would be needed to engage the board and major shareholders...

[growthpotential] 14/6/2024 14:48

Long in there ETFs but short in some failing hedge fund?

[ochs] 14/6/2024 14:12

Surprised BlackRock had been short as well as long, guess it was some sort of hedge.

Not long to go - I'm expecting no announcement until 6pm on Weds 19th!

[growthpotential] 13/6/2024 22:26

Good to see BlackRock unloading some of their shorts on this, they were so wrong

[growthpotential] 11/6/2024 21:52

15k @ 1070

[lomax99] 11/6/2024 10:00

Small top-up for LT.

[giltedge1] 10/6/2024 16:42

Nice of Train to say that, but forgot to mention has been a 'forced seller' at pre bid levels,due to redemptions in UK Fund & buybacks at FGT.

[eigthwonder] 10/6/2024 10:38

I think Train is against the deal because if he lost a holding, with that concentrated portfolio of his he is going to have to get off his backside and find a new holding. Which means working for his millions

[adamb1978] 10/6/2024 09:23

Nice to see that professional investors view the offer similarly to most on here.

[lomax99] 10/6/2024 06:36

Some excerts:The Lindsell Train fund manager says he was not surprised by the bid approach the investment broker received last month given the 'exceptionally low' valuation of its shares.Train, who runs £3.5bn Lindsell Train UK Equity fund and £1.5bn Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT) investment trust, said he would be watching the situation 'with interest' but did not set out any fundamental opposition to a sale. 'Its prior stock market valuation had seemed exceptionally low. But many UK-listed asset and private wealth management franchises seem exceptionally lowly valued too.'Ben Needham, Ninety One portfolio manager and another investor in what he called the 'woefully undervalued' business, said it was a wake-up call for UK-listed companies. UK Buffettology fund manager Keith Ashworth-Lord decried the bid as 'opportunistic in the extreme', coming at a time when the fortunes of the Citywire A-rated Elite company could be turning.

[growthpotential] 09/6/2024 23:35

Cheers, what's the jist of the article? Can't view all of it...