Co-founder of Hargreaves hits out at 6bn sale [Video]

The co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown has called the €6.4bn takeover of the company ‘questionable’ and “not the greatest deal in the world”, writes Leah Montebello.

The investment platform became the latest Londonlisted firm to be snapped up by private equity earlier this month after rejecting its previous offers. Directors accepted an 1140p per share offer from a consortium of investors including CVC and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. The offer is a 54pc premium to its closing price of 740p on April 11, the day before the consortium initially approached Hargreaves, but still significantly lower than the 2000p shares were worth in 2019.

But Stephen Lansdown, who started the business in 1981 alongside Peter Hargreaves, has taken aim at the offer. ‘I think the board did the right thing in rejecting it initially. They got the price up.

Whether that price is the right price is questionable but it’s a fair price compared to …