Huge sell-off in Babcock shares - Business - Evening Standard
       

Huge sell-off in Babcock shares

The investment firm behind last week's £3.6 billion deal to buy Angel Trains from Royal Bank of Scotland today launched urgent talks with its lenders after seeing a massive sell-off in its shares.

Babcock & Brown has set up a number of funds around the world, including the Babcock & Brown European Infrastructure Fund, which on Friday announced the Angel deal.

It was the first large debtfinanced takeover of a major infrastructure asset since the credit crunch started to bite.

But rather than welcome the transaction, Babcock & Brown's shares continued a plunge that started even before the deal was announced, losing half their value in just one week.

The share slide was so extreme that Babcock's lenders now have the right to insist on new terms for its three-year A$2.8 billion (£1.35 billion) debt facility.

Today, Babcock said it would accelerate a "strategic review" of its listed funds - generally coded language for a sale of some assets.

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