Hargreaves Lansdown extends deadline for £5.4bn private equity takeover

Hargreaves Lansdown has extended a deadline for its £5.4bn takeover by a group of private equity bidders today, as it looks set to become the latest London firm to shift into private hands this year.

In a statement to the market today, the UK’s biggest retail investment platform said it had pushed back the ‘put up or shut up’ deadline on takeover talks until the 5th August as negotiations “remain ongoing” with the group of buyers, led by buyout giant CVC.

The retail investment group has said it is ready to recommend a deal to its shareholders after the group, which is also backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, rounded again with a fourth £5.4bn offer for the firm last month.

In a statement in June, Hargreaves bosses said the latest non-binding offer was at a value that “the board would be willing to recommend unanimously to Hargreaves Lansdown shareholders”, and it had now entered negotiations with the consortium.

However, they have yet to make a formal firm offer for the company.

“The board remains confident in management’s ability to execute Hargreaves Lansdown’s strategic priorities and in Hargreaves Lansdown’s fundamental longer term prospects,” Hargreaves Lansdown said last month. 

Any deal is likely to unsettle the City of London after a torrent of takeovers in the past year and concerns over the appeal of London’s public markets.

A takeover bid for Hargeaves Lansdown, a member of the FTSE 100, has come amid a growing offensive on bigger firms in the capital, as private buyers look to capitalise on a perceived valuation gap on the London Stock Exchange.

Some 30 listed companies came under offer in the first half of the year and the average deal size more than doubled to over £1bn, according to numbers from Peel Hunt, signalling the resurgent interest of private buyers.

Today’s update came as Hargreaves Lansdown said it had accelerated the rate it was adding new customers  in the fourth quarter of its financial year.

In a trading statement, bosses said net new clients jumped 85 per cent in the three months to the end of June.

The Bristol-based company’s assets under administration also rose to a record £155.3bn, above analysts’ forecast of £153.17bn, according to a company compiled consensus.