Hargreaves Lansdown has given a private equity consortium four more days to firm up its £5.4bn offer for the company after already extending the deadline twice.

The private equity consortium had been given until 5pm today to formalise the revised £11.40 per share bid it had made on 18 June, but the deadline has now been extended to 5pm on Friday 9 August.

In a stock market update today, HL said: “Discussions with the consortium remain ongoing. Accordingly, the board of Hargreaves Lansdown has requested a short extension to the deadline.

“Therefore, in accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the code, the consortium is now required, by no later than 5.00pm (London time) on 9 August to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Hargreaves Lansdown in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the code or announce that it does not intend to make an offer.”

HL added: “There can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made for Hargreaves Lansdown nor as to the terms on which any such firm offer might be made.”

It said a further announcement “will be made as and when appropriate.”

The consortium comprises CVC Advisers Limited, Nordic Capital XI Delta, SCSP (through its general partner Nordic Capital XI Delta GP SARL), and Platinum Ivy B 2018 RSC Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

The original deadline had been 5pm on Thursday 19 July but when announcing the extra weeks, HL had said: “Discussions between Hargreaves Lansdown and the consortium, as well as the negotiation of definitive transaction documentation, remain ongoing.”

It had confirmed that it had decided to engage with the consortium and provide due diligence access on 18 June.

It had earlier rejected a £5bn takeover bid from the private equity consortium in May.

Hargreaves has seen a number of changes to its senior management team in recent times and has also faced criticism for poor share price performance. 

Alison Platt replaced Deanna Oppenheimer as chair of the board in February after Ms Oppenheimer unexpectedly quit in November after activist investors threatened to vote against her re-appointment at the December AGM.

Some investors were unhappy with the firm’s share price performance, including one of HL's founders, Peter Hargreaves. Deanna Oppenheimer served as chair for six years during which time the share price fell from a peak of 2,419p in May 2019 to 706p by the time she quit.