Claims Direct investors shun founders' bid
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Your support makes all the difference.The two founders of Claims Direct, the stricken no-win, no-fee personal-injury business, yesterday saw their 10p a share offer for the company roundly rejected by shareholders.
Tony Sullman and Colin Poole, until earlier this year Claims Direct's chairman and chief executive, received acceptances for just 0.1 per cent of shares. The two already own 43 per cent of the company.
The majority of shareholders rejected the Sullman-Poole bid after the independent directors attacked the exercise as a "deeply cynical" attempt to take advantage of its low share price.
Mr Sullman and Mr Poole yesterday refuted the charge and said they would not raise the price from 10p, which they said was a "fair". They have extended their offer for 14 days.
Claims Direct floated last July at 180p a share. Since then, the company has been widely criticised because many successful customers received little of the compensation they won. This was because they had to pay an insurance premium, which Claims Direct forced them to take out, of more than £1,000 from their winnings.
The hostile bid from Mr Sullman and Mr Poole was seen as particularly opportunistic because the future of the company remains unclear. Claims Direct is waiting for the outcome of a Court of Appeal case that was intended to clarify whether the group and rival companies could force insurers covering defendants in personal injury cases to pay the insurance premiums, rather than having to reclaim the money from its customers.
The Court of Appeal yesterday gave some guidance about these premiums but said more personal injury disputes would have to be tested in court in order to form a coherent idea about what level of insurance premium was reasonable.
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