Financial Services

UPDATE 1-Patisserie Holdings investors back $15 mln pound share issue plan


(Corrects to drop dollar sign from headline)

Nov 1 (Reuters) – Patisserie Holdings said on Thursday its plan to issue 15 million pounds ($19.4 million) worth of new shares was supported by nearly all investors who voted at an emergency general meeting, weeks after its chairman injected cash to prevent a potential shutdown of the company.

Patisserie, the owner of Patisserie Valerie, was rocked by the discovery of accounting irregularities last month, leading to the suspension of Chief Financial Officer Chris Marsh and his eventual resignation.

Chairman Luke Johnson had stepped in and lent 20 million pounds of his own money to keep the company running. The loan gave the company the breathing space to raise 15.7 million pounds in a heavily discounted placing early October.

Patisserie was “three hours from going into bankruptcy”, Johnson was quoted as saying at Thursday’s meeting, according to the BBC bbc.in/2EUGHpr, adding that he would reduce other commitments to focus on rescuing Patisserie Valerie.

On Wednesday, veteran restaurateur David Scott, who used to run Druckers Vienna Patisserie, said he had no intention to make an offer or buy shares in Patisserie Valerie.

Scott’s comments followed a Times reported that he had declared an intention to make a takeover bid for the chain with backing from a family-run private equity firm.

The company’s shares remain suspended for trading.

$1 = 0.7739 pounds
Reporting by Sangameswaran S and Noor Zainab Hussain in
Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty



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