Optare crashes as bus maker's Indian owners want delisting
Shares in bus maker Optare crashed after it sent a letter to shareholders proposing the company de-list from the stock market.
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16:55 01/06/15
A review by management and 75% owner Ashok Leyland, the Indian auto giant owned by the Sunday Times Rich List number-twos the Hinduja brothers which has three non-executive seats on the baord, concluded that it would be "in the overall interests of the company and its shareholders" if its AIM listing was cancelled.
A shareholder meeting has been proposed for 18 May at Optare's Leeds headquarters with a vote seeming inevitable due to Ashok's majority holding.
Should cancellation be approved by shareholders at the meeting, the company said it will put in place a matched bargain trading facility to be administered by Capita IRG that will operate shortly after cancellation to facilitate shareholders in buying and selling shares.
Ashok Leyland, formerly a Indian subsidiary of British Leyland that was bought up by Hinduja Group in 1987, bought a 26% stake in Optare in 2010, which it increased to 75% in December 2011.
Shares in Optare, which recently won a £7.3m from Stagecoach UK, were down 56% to 0.7p.