Provident Financial rebuffs “irresponsible” Non-Standard Finance bid

The lender, which alongside its home credit offering owns Vanquis Bank and Moneybarn, rejected the offer in bullish fashion after receiving the offer on Friday.

In a statement released on Monday, February 25, Provident branded the approach “unsolicited and highly opportunistic”.

The Provident statement added: “The board considers that this hostile offer represents an irresponsible approach in the context of a financially regulated business which is recovering from a period of substantial instability. the board believes that this offer could have a negative and destabilising impact on its stakeholders, including its customers, for a considerable period of time.”

Provident chairman Patrick Snowball said the offer did not represent the value of the company and its prospects and said he and his colleagues had a number a concerns over the all-share offer.

John van Kuffeler, chief executive of Non-Standard Finance, said: “We have recognised the strong logic and value creation potential of a combination with Provident for some time and hence approached the Provident Board with a proposal in January last year. That approach was rebuffed and since then Provident has further lost its way.

“However, Non-Standard Finance has extensive management expertise and experience, and the correct strategy to turn Provident around and release significant value by combining it with our own businesses for the benefit of customers, employees and investors.”

NSF said it would look to sell Provident’s car finance arm, Moneybarn, which is still under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).