The acquisition of platform provider Hargreaves Lansdown by a private equity-led consortium for £5.4bn has received court approval and shares in the firm are set to be delisted on Monday 24 March.
In a stock market update the company said that the takeover remains conditional on the court order being delivered to the Registrar of Companies on 24 March.
The notice said listing of HL shares is expected to be suspended from 7.30 am on 24 March. The last day for dealings in the shares is therefore expected to be 21 March.
Hargreaves Lansdown accepted the £5.4bn consortium offer for the company in August last year. The consortium comprises CVC, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Nordic Capital, who hold equal weighting in the deal.
Bristol-based HL is one of the UK’s biggest direct to consumer investment platforms with £150bn in assets under administration and 1.858m active clients (April 2024 figures).
The cash offer was originally made on 18 June 2024 but was pushed back three times. The full price being paid for HL's entire issued shares is approximately £5.443bn.
Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown, set up by entrepreneurs Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown, will be acquired by Harp Bidco Limited. Harp Bidco is a new company which is indirectly owned by CVC Private Equity Funds, Nordic Capital XI Delta, SCSp (acting through its general partner, Nordic Capital XI Delta GP SARL) and Platinum Ivy B 2018 RSC Limited.
Hargreaves has seen changes to its senior management team in recent times and faced criticism for poor share price performance.
Alison Platt replaced Deanna Oppenheimer as chair of the board in February after Ms Oppenheimer unexpectedly quit in November after activist investors threatened to vote against her re-appointment at the December AGM.
Some investors were unhappy with the firm’s share price performance, including one of HL's founders, Peter Hargreaves. Deanna Oppenheimer served as chair for six years during which time the share price fell from a peak of 2,419p in May 2019 to 706p by the time she quit.
