'Business as usual' for Interserve as it completes sale

The company said it remained "business as usual for employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders" following the developments.

Over 59% of shareholders rejected a plan that would have slashed its debts but handed control of the company to its lenders.

Interserve announced shortly after the vote that EY had been appointed as administrator following the completion of the sale of the group to a newly incorporated company controlled by its lenders.

The company said the new ownership, being renamed as Interserve Group, would deliver "a strong balance sheet, competitive financial structure and a fundamentally solid foundation from which to deliver on its long-term strategy".

It added that it was implementing a deleveraging transaction involving the equitisation of approximately £485 million of existing debt and £110 million of additional liquidity.

Interserve Group CEO Debbie White said: "With a stronger financial platform in place, Interserve will be able to concentrate on delivering value for our customers.

"The group's transformation programme will continue, focused on improving our value propositions for customers, standardising our operational delivery, making Interserve simpler and more efficient through our Fit for Growth initiatives, and embedding a culture of ownership and openness throughout the group.

"Interserve is fundamentally a strong business and with a competitive financial platform in place we see significant opportunities ahead as a best-in-class partner to the public and private sector."

EY administrator Hunter Kelly added: "This transaction secured the jobs of 68,000 employees, the majority of whom work in the UK, as well as ensuring there was no disruption to the vital public services that Interserve provides to the UK Government."

Interserve has thousands of government contracts such as hospital cleaning, school meals and maintenance of military bases in the Falklands. It is also one of the biggest private sector employers in areas such as office-cleaning. It also cleans the London Underground.

Interserve's shares had plunged 90 per cent in the last 12 months after a move into the energy-for-waste market added to pressures plaguing the wider outsourcing market.