Interserve needs a good plan B, given the rebellion to its current plan | Nils Pratley

A sizeable number of shareholders are lining up to vote down their own demise

The board of Interserve, the large but ailing government contractor, knew it would struggle to persuade shareholders to vote for their own demise, which is an almost-accurate description of the proposed £480m debt-for-equity rescue in which the banks would take control and current investors would be diluted to just 2.5% ownership.

Sure enough, the rebellion is on. The New York-based hedge fund Coltrane was first out of the traps last week, declaring it wants to vote out Interserve’s entire board except the chief executive. It aims to install two new directors who, presumably, would be told to take a more robust approach to protecting shareholders’ interests.