Pollen Street Secured Lending saga drags on – Since 25 February 2020, Pollen Street Secured Lending has been in discussions with Waterfall Asset Management about a possible cash offer by funds advised by Waterfall for the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of Pollen Street Secured Lending.
Deadline after deadline for making an offer has expired and, today, the can has been kicked down the road again. “At the request of the directors of PSSL, the Panel on Takeovers & Mergers has consented to an extension of the relevant deadline, until 5:00 p.m. on 6 October 2020 to enable the parties to continue their ongoing discussions. By this time Waterfall must either announce a firm intention to make an offer for PSSL or announce that it does not intend to make an offer.” We have been seeing similar announcements for months now. We think shareholders in the fund should be demanding concrete action from the board.
In the meantime, the board plans to hand the management contract of the fund to Waterfall – giving them control of the portfolio and an income from it without having to make an offer. Again, a process that is usually fairly straightforward (transferring a management contract) seems to be taking months to complete. “As announced on 14 August 2020, the board has entered into an interim advisory agreement with Waterfall for the provision of advisory services which includes providing the board with proposals for the transfer of the management of the company’s portfolio of investments to a replacement investment manager. It is expected that Waterfall will be confirmed and appointed as the replacement investment manager as soon as practicable. Waterfall and the company have made significant progress in preparing to enter into an investment management agreement. Waterfall has also progressed discussions with the company’s lending banks and has engaged with the company’s counterparties. Waterfall and the company have been engaging with the outgoing investment manager, PSC Credit Holdings LLP (“PSC”), with a view to securing PSC’s cooperation in ensuring a smooth transition of the portfolio in the near term.”
Quite apart from the uncertainty that shareholders are having to live with, god only knows how much the company is racking up in legal fees. Time this saga drew to a conclusion we think.
PSSL : Pollen Street Secured Lending saga drags on