RAB Capital - the hedge fund infamous for buying into Northern Rock before the lender's collapse - has outlined plans to go private via a management buyout.
RAB, whose investors include the family of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, is offering shareholders 10p in cash for each share, or the option to swap them for one share in the new private company being set up. It expects the maximum it will have to pay under the buyout is around £27m.
The offer price is at a premium to last night's share price, helping push it up in the market by 1.4p to 9.5p. The fund has suffered from tumbling assets and clients pulling out their cash. Announcing the delisting it said:
The board has concluded that in light of poor results, significant redemptions and further anticipated redemptions, third party assets under management will fall to a level that will make RAB's business model difficult to sustain as a publicly quoted company.
It also warned of a significant cut in the number of its employees.
