The UK’s largest guarantor lender, Amigo, has received an official offer from a company (yet to be named), valuing the company at 20.9p per share, equal to around £99million.
Covering more than 90% of the guarantor industry and successfully servicing over 200,000 customers in the UK, Amigo is owned by The Richmond Group and was worth over £1 billion this time last year, but some internal decisions and increased regulation has seen its share price fall dramatically.
Founder and CEO, James Benamor, accused his board of committing ‘corporate suicide’ as the firm were upholding 90% of guarantor loan claims that they were also continuing to fund. Benamor claimed that the loans provider had become a hotbed for expensive consultants and people wearing suits – and was trying to carry out its own version of Brewster’s Millions.
The company put itself up for sale in January, having floated in June 2018, after Richmond said it would willingly sell off its interest.
The subprime lender said that despite attempts to discuss it with Richmond Group, it has been unable to ascertain the shareholder’s “willingness or not” to accept the offer. Richmond has a 61% stake in Amigo.
“Richmond Group has requested that Amigo publicly disclose the status of the formal sale process such that it can be cleansed of inside information relating to the FSP,” it said. Amigo said there can be no certainty that any offer will be forthcoming.
