WH Ireland Group PLC (AIM:WHI) shares rocketed 200% higher after it said current levels of proxy investor votes on the sale of its wealth management arm "indicate that the resolutions will fail", though buyer Oberon Investments Group PLC (AQSE:OBE) said it is keen to work out a way of making the deal work.
Major shareholders are unhappy with what they see as a cut-price sale, according to a report by Sky News.
Last month, the company announced that a conditional deal had been agreed with Oberon, which would pay for £1 million in cash at completion, with Oberon also taking on certain contractual liabilities.
WHI proposed that it would then delist the company's shares from trading on AIM and wind down the company.
In today's statement, it said: "at this stage the proxy votes filed with the company's registrars indicate that the resolutions will fail but the actual outcome of the upcoming general meeting will not be known until the meeting has been held".
In the Sky News report, one 9.9% shareholder said the WHI have been "running the business utterly incompetently for years, [then] crowned their achievements by agreeing to sell the only remaining valuable part of the business for nothing".
Oberon issued its own statement, confirming that it is not in a position to comment on the outcome of the vote, but that legal advice suggests the asset purchase agreement "remains valid and binding, with the parties' obligations to use all reasonable endeavours to procure that the APA becomes unconditional continuing until 31 December 2025".
"In the event that the vote to approve the proposed sale is not passed tomorrow, Oberon remains committed to working constructively with WH Ireland to pursue a successful outcome that serves the best interests of clients, staff, and stakeholders of both businesses."
WHI shares, which fell from 2.3p before the sale agreement in September to a low of 0.4p earlier this week, jumped to 1.5p when the statements were released on mid-morning on Wednesday, before easing back to 1p, a gain of 150%.