Analysis: not seeking a mandate from the mutual’s members or explaining the deal properly to them were fatal errors
A triumph for the mutual movement? Well, a messy triumph at best. The £530m deal to sell LV= to private equity firm Bain Capital is dead, but 69% of votes were cast in favour. Such are the perils of requiring a 75% supermajority. Sometimes you end up with a muddle.
But the outcome is definitely a defeat for an LV= board that failed to pitch its case coherently, ignored the swelling opposition to the takeover until too late and never truly grasped that a US private equity takeover of a mutual organisation would stir strong feelings. Rather than depart after trying to find “a way forward”, Alan Cook, the chairman, would do better to go immediately. His position looks untenable.
