(Alliance News) - Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd on Wednesday said it has sent letters to shareholders requesting consent to share its shareholder register with Harwood Capital LLP.
The utility infrastructure and services firm said it was seeking consent to share the information in response to the fund manger's request for the register. It noted that Harwood has no legal right to the requested information and therefore Fulcrum owes a duty of confidentiality to its shareholders in relation to their information as held on the register.
Earlier in April, Fulcrum said 39.87% of shareholders rejected Harwood Capital LLP's tender offer to purchase a 24.1% stake, up to 53.5 million of Fulcrum's shares at 26.25 pence each, communicating their intention to oppose any resolution to cancel the admission of its shares to trading on London's AIM market if proposed by Harwood or Bayford Group.
It added that Harwood's tender offer is "opportunistic" and "significantly undervalues" the company as it advised shareholders to take no action nor to sell any shares to Harwood at or below the tender price.
In response, Harwood Capital said it believes the letters of intent referred to were from corporate broking firms holding Fulcrum shares in a nominee capacity for underlying beneficial holders, and therefore those beneficial holders are not bound by the letters of intent. It also stated that it believes its tender offer has resulted in a rise in Fulcrum's share price and the absence of the offer could result in a deterioration in the value of Fulcrum shares.
Since then, Harwood has bought 8.8 million further shares under the tender offer, taking its total stake in Fulcrum to 9.8%
On Wednesday, Fulcrum reiterated its recommendation that shareholders should not sell any shares to Harwood. It also advised shareholders who do not wish to receive Harwood's tender offer to take no action and not to consent to their register information being shared with Harwood.
Fulcrum shares were trading 3.2% higher at 26.84p each on Wednesday afternoon in London.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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