M&G Investments
M&G Investments has sold a big stake in Entertainment One, the company behind Peppa Pig. In a filing to the stock exchange published this morning, it now owns just under 5% of the business, down from 9.99%.
Carpetright
The high street carpet chain Carpetright has had a tough time of late and announced last month that there was a short-term funding gap. A capital raising exercise is expected to get underway next week with £60 million of fresh equity being offered, but in the interim an unsecured commercial loan has been arranged. The terms of this are however punitive, underlining the risk that’s associated with the deal – the £15 million sum comes with a £2.25 million arrangement fee, and interest will be charged at 19.9%.
Interserve
Interserve, the outsourcing and construction firm, has today notified the market that it has been referred to the FCA’s enforcement division over its handling of inside information in 2016 and 2017. Interserve has stated it will cooperate fully with the FCA, but the outcome here could be a hefty fine for the business. With the share price already languishing, this step seems unlikely to be cheered by investors.
