A triumph for the mutual movement? Well, a messy triumph at best. The £530m deal to sell LV= to private equity firm Bain Capital is dead, but 69% of votes were cast in favour. Such are the perils of requiring a 75% supermajority. Sometimes you end up with a muddle.
But the outcome is definitely a defeat for an LV= board that failed to pitch its case coherently, ignored the swelling opposition to the takeover until too late and never truly grasped that a US private equity takeover of a mutual organisation would stir strong feelings. Rather than depart after trying to find “a way forward”, Alan Cook, the chairman, would do better to go immediately. His position looks untenable.
Cook & co’s first mistake was not to seek a formal mandate to sell
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