R&Q in agony: shares trade down ca 82% on threat of liquidation

LSE-listed shares of specialty and legacy insurance group R&Q Holdings shed an immediate 72% on news of a possible liquidation, then slid further to flatline the remainder of the session with losses in excess of 80% as shareholders fled the scene.

Against the 12M high hit in September last year, shares are down in excess of 99%.

The mass exodus of shareholders followed word that R&Q was stumbling in its malingering attempts to shed its program management business in an attempt to raise cash for anxious creditors and, hopefully, walk away with its legacy business still intact.

But R&Q has struggled to close a sales deal with Onex that it originally penned back in October. Along the way, R&Q has its hands tied in legacy and has watched “significant” costs build up in its rescue efforts.

R&Q is now up against the wall. Onex has put forward an alternative deal structure that would see it pick up the asset only once R&Q is in liquidation. Remaining R&Q assets would also likely be sold off should that provisional liquidation begin, management surmised.

“In such circumstances there would be very little, if any, chance of any value accruing to the Company's shareholders,” R&Q management warned.

Management still talks of chances for the original deal.

“The Board is currently exploring and evaluating all options that may be available to the Company, including alternative transactions (including the Alternative Proposal) and potential sources of liquidity, whilst continuing to work to complete the original Sale,” management had said in its pre-session warning to markets.

Talks to sell R&Q's program management business to grease the rescue have dragged on. R&Q was forced to strike a stand-still deal with creditors in late April.

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