Amigo Loans PLC (LON:AMGO) said 95.1% of creditors have accepted its scheme of arrangement though it faces a battle with the UK regulator to get it through the courts.
The controversial scheme caps awards for the misselling of guaranteed loans by Amigo, with a pot of between £15-35mln to be shared out by all the claimants plus a share of profits made by the company over the next four years.
To go ahead, the scheme requires more than 50% of creditors who vote to be in favour and for the value of their claims to be 75% of the value of those who voted.
Amigo added those voting in favour already accounted for 95.7% of the value of claims.
The next step is a creditors’ meeting scheduled for tomorrow where approval is also required and following that is a court hearing as the final stage to implement the scheme.
Amigo added that it had received a letter from the FCA saying that the regulator intends to attend the court hearing to voice its objections.
The FCA argues that the Court cannot be satisfied that the Scheme in its current form is fair.
Its concerns are that other stakeholders such as shareholders are not being asked to contribute and the terms were not negotiated with creditors.
Amigo has warned that it will go bust if the scheme is not approved following a surge in complaints last year.
The number lodged with the Financial Ombudsman about Amigo jumped to 13,000 in the second half of 2020 alone.
The Court hearing is scheduled for 19 May, 2021.
Read across for Provident Financial
Shore Capital notes that Provident Financial (LON:PFG) is currently pursuing a similar scheme to cap the cost of complaints against its Consumer Credit Division (CCD) to £50mln (plus a further £15mln in administration costs).
The PFG scheme has already won initial Court approval and will move to a creditor vote that is scheduled for 19 July, with a subsequent Court hearing on 30 July.
“In conclusion, we think both Amigo and Provident’s Schemes will ultimately receive both creditor and Court approval, despite any protestations from the FCA.
“This will help draw a line under the claims situation and allow these businesses to move forward.
“In Amigo’s case, we understand that it intends to continue operating in the guarantor lending space albeit with an updated product set and procedures to better reflect current regulation.
As noted above, regardless of the outcome of the Scheme, Provident has decided to discontinue operations in the high-cost credit market (including home credit) where CCD operates in order to focus its efforts on the larger mid-cost credit market.”