Vincent Tchenguiz’s Consensus Group said today that it would not be making a bid for troubled property services firm Erinaceous
At lunchtime, Erinaceous's shares dropped 19% to 28p.
Erinaceous has been in turmoil since it announced in September that it had made a loss in the first half of the year and that it had breached its banking covenants.
Previous statement
On 1 October Consensus said in a Stock Exchange announcement that it had not made an approach to Erinaceous but that it might do in the future.
Today, Consensus told the Stock Exchange: ‘Since that announcement, [Consensus Business Group] has not made, and is not in the course of preparing, an approach to Erinaceous and does not intend to make an offer for Erinaceous.’
But it added that certain conditions might lead to an offer.
These conditions include the announcement by the Erinaceous board that it is seeking offers, or the announcement that most of the board of directors has been changed because of a third-party winning a vote at an extraordinary meeting.
Upheaval
The latter is a distinct possibility, with Erinaceous’s largest shareholder, hedge fund Fursa, thought to be poised to call an EGM seeking to oust the board and install Moss Bros chairman Keith Hammill at the helm of the company.
