Amigo founder tries to acquire extra 29% of lender’s shares

The extract, posted on Benamor’s Twitter account, stated that following the appointment, approval and installation of Benamor as CEO of Amigo Holdings PLC (AMGO), the broker must, on behalf of Richmond Group (RGL), purchase shares in AMGO at a market rate up to 20p per share.

RGL’s offer to acquire the shares is conditional upon Benamor getting approval, at a shareholders general meeting due this month, to become chief executive of Amigo Holdings. RGL already holds a majority stake in Amigo.

Amigo’s board has issued a response to Benamor, explaining that it will be posting its notice of a general meeting, which will include a recommendation to shareholders to vote against his proposal.

The response said: “RGL will in any event require the prior approval of the FCA to acquire 20% or more of Amigo shares and thereby become a “controller” of a regulated entity. There is no guarantee that this further approval will be granted. This will limit any share purchase by RGL to up to 20%. In the absence of the required prior approval from the FCA, execution of the irrevocable instruction would result in RGL committing a criminal offence when its shareholding exceeds 20%.”

The irrevocable instruction set out by Benamor is to last until one of the following events occurs, whichever is sooner:

• Richmond Group’s holding reaches 29% of AMGO stock;
• 30 days from the date of Benamor’s installation as CEO of AMGO;
• Upon the expiry of this instruction on February 1 2021.

The response from Amigo’s board also said: “Amigo notes the speculation by Mr. Benamor that the board may be considering a share buyback. This is not the case. There are no current plans to buyback any shares of Amigo.”

This is the latest development of the lender’s ongoing battle with the founder. Recently, Benamor published a blog criticising how former executives had run the company.