The Treasury Select Committee hearings into the crisis at The Co-operative Bank have shone a bright light onto the uncomfortable hidden truths of our movement. Most of us knew that some of the directors of some of the societies were not up to the job. Now, it seems, everyone knows this – and perhaps wrongly […]
In the last column I wrote that the end game was upon us. It has now arrived and, whatever words anyone chooses to use, the reality is that The Co-operative Bank is demutualising and ceasing to be ‘a co-operative bank’. The Group will have a 30% stake – we will have to wait and see
The battle for control of The Co-operative Bank is probably now moving towards its endgame. A prospectus is to be published at some point in the final three months of this year – possibly at the end of October. We should then know whether bondholders have accepted the proposed resolution lodged by the Bank and
After weeks of pressure, the Co-operative Group has entered negotiations with bondholders to resolve what had been an impasse over the restructuring of The Co-operative Bank. It is not possible to predict with confidence what the agreed solution will be, but it will presumably not be the complete demutualisation of the bank – with the
Interesting things are happening with the so called joint venture between Thomas Cook and Co-operative Travel. I say ‘so called’ as I’ve always regarded the term ‘joint venture’ to be misleading, as it seemed to me the deal was essentially an acquisition by Thomas Cook of the Co-op Travel business, subject to various conditions and
The rumours were correct – The Co-operative Bank’s losses have increased significantly in the first half of the current trading year. This confirms what seemed to be the view of the Moody’s credit ratings agency, as well as those of Mark Taber of Fixed Income Investors, representing many of the individual bondholders in the bank,
Peter Hunt, the irrepressible chief executive of Mutuo, is in bullish mood. The think-tank’s Mutuals’ Redeemable Share Bill has had its First Reading in the House of Lords and Peter seems genuinely confident that the Bill can wend its way through the sometimes tortuous maze of Parliamentary legislation. The Bill needs government support if
Things are about to become even more interesting for The Co-operative Bank. ‘Interesting’, though, is not necessarily good. In this case, it means additional complications and potential problems. The Bank’s difficulties are known internationally. We know that not least because at least two big United States hedge funds have bought large quantities of subordinated
It is far too early to consider the crisis that has swept across The Co-operative Bank to be over. Yet we can begin to see the shape of the Bank as it will be once the cloud has moved away. That future Co-op Bank will be smaller than the one we have today and
Investors in The Co-operative Bank are very unhappy with the principles of the outline for financial restructuring proposed last month. While co-operative activists are disillusioned that the Bank’s problems are leading towards a partial demutualisation, thousands of bondholders are opposed to potentially bearing losses through their debt being converted into shares. There are ten
Where The Co-operative Bank leads, the Nationwide Building Society follows. That at least seems to be the sad position regarding capital holes. Both have announced clear routes out of their problems. The Co-operative Bank will be partially demutualised in order to save it. At present the Bank is a PLC wholly owned by the
The Co-operative Group’s decision to withdraw from the purchase of 630 Lloyds Banking Group branches is not entirely surprising. Several problems about the deal had surfaced in recent months and there has always been anxiety behind the scenes. The banking operation would have trebled in size and if the deal had gone badly wrong, it