Yeoman shares delisted

SHARES in Yeoman International Group, the Irish leasing company that is suing SG Warburg and Linklaters & Paines for pounds 125m, have been delisted from the London Stock Exchange, writes Jason Nisse.

The delisting, which was at the instigation of the exchange, came because the shares were deemed to have no value unless Yeoman wins its legal action against the two City firms.

The shares will now be traded on a matched bargain basis under the exchange's rule 535.2.

The action resulted from Yeoman's purchase of a rival leasing company, CLF Group, for pounds 105m in December 1988. The acquisition turned out to be a disaster because there was a problem with one of the companies in CLF Group and the performance of others did not live up to expectations.

Yeoman was forced to make a rights issue to refinance the group. Subsequently it sued Warburg, the merchant bank for the purchase of CLF, and Linklaters, the solicitors, because it said that CLF was significantly overvalued when Yeoman bought it. The case comes to court in January 1994.

Both have vigorously denied the suit and Warburg declined to mention it in its report and accounts as a contingent liability.

Yeoman's shares were suspended in September last year after a restructuring that meant all the profits created by the operating companies would go to banks that have lent Yeoman pounds 39m. Any value to shareholders will only come if Yeoman wins its action.