Billion pound G4S takeover ‘in balance’

THE billion pound takeover of a Danish cleaning firm by prisons and security group G4S is in the balance with two more large shareholders expected to oppose the deal, according to a report.

G4S needs three quarters of votes cast at a shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday to approve the £5.2bn acquisition of ISS.

Fund managers Artemis and Schroders, which own two per cent and 1.35 per cent of the shares, are now expected to vote against the takeover, a newspaper reported. Parvus Asset Management has already said it would vote its 3.7 per cent against. A number of other institutions are reportedly set to abstain.

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Pressure is growing on the G4S board to delay the vote or even pull the deal completely, the newspaper added.

Institutional Shareholder Services, a governance body that advises 1,700 large investors, has already recommended a vote against the transaction as it is a departure from the strategy set out by G4S’s chief executive Nick Buckles.

Danish investors, who speak for 10 per cent of the shares, are also said to have reservations.