Chris Hughes, Columnist

Kier’s Sudden Rights Offering Sends a Brexit Warning

Have Britain’s banks only just woken up the risk of a bad exit from the EU?

November 30, 2018 at 5:31 PM UTC

Chris Hughes is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals. Previously, he worked for Reuters Breakingviews, the Financial Times and the Independent newspaper.

The Kier logo sits on a sign at a construction site for residential housing by Kier Group Plc.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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Ten months after the collapse of government contractor Carillion Plc, one of its peers is holding its shareholders to ransom by asking for a massive cash injection.

The reasons given by Kier Group Plc for the heavily dilutive 264 million-pound ($337 million) rights offering it announced on Friday may be plausible — but the timing raises awkward questions for both the company and its lenders. It’s also a warning to all investors in U.K.-focused stocks.