National Grid buyers annoyed by delays amid £7bn rights difficulty

National Grid has acknowledged difficulties facing investors seeking information on its £7billion rights issue amid complaints about documentation delays and customer service standards.

The group hopes to use the biggest UK rights issue since 2009 to help fund a £60billion investment in Britain’s energy network infrastructure.

It means more than half a million retail investors are left to decide whether to participate.

But investors have complained of how little time they have been given to make the decision, with some receiving the correct documentation with just a few working days to spare.

National Grid’s rights issue is the biggest the UK has seen since 2009 

Meanwhile those attempting to gain clarity on the issue potentially face a customer services brick wall as National Grid’s registrar Equiniti struggles to handle ‘significantly higher call volumes’.

Under the terms of the programme, National Grid will undergo a fully underwritten rights issue of 1.09billion new shares, priced at 645p-a-piece and equating to seven new shares for every 24 existing shares.

Should investors not want to purchase the newly issued shares, they can sell their rights to buy them at around 190p a share to compensate them for the dilution of their stake – a function known as nil-paid rights.

Should investors want to take up the offer, however, they have until 11am 10 June to subscribe. There were earlier deadlines for alternatives, including a 31 May ‘cashless take up’ date with Equiniti.

Under Financial Conduct Authority rules, a listed company must ensure that an open offer remains open for acceptance for at least ten business days.

National Grid’s rights issue prospectus says provisional allotment letters and corporate sponsored nominee letters were posted to investors ‘on or about 23 May’.

But This is Money has seen evidence that some investors only received letters from Equiniti on Monday 3 June – leaving them with very little time to make a decision.

The prospectus also says those returning a provisional allotment letters should ‘allow sufficient time for delivery… allowing four days for first class post within the UK’.

Having attempted to get in contact with Equiniti on this issue, social media is littered with National Grid investors voicing their frustrations.

‘@AskEquiniti isn’t responding… and we have been given a short timetable to make a decision,’ wrote one X user.

‘@AskEquiniti is officially the slowest registrars is the Galaxy,’ said another.

This is Money has heard from investors who have spent well over an hour on an Equiniti helpline, which has cut off before an answer.

Another X user said: ‘You have not got enough staff and your system is not handling the National Grids share issue very well at all. Got to call back, again, as you cannot cope with the calls.’

In a statement, an Equiniti spokesman said: ‘Equiniti is aware that its general helpline has been experiencing significantly higher call volumes due to high corporate activity and speculation across a number of corporate clients, including National Grid as a result of its Rights Issue.

‘Equiniti encourages National Grid shareholders requiring support to use the dedicated helpline… 0371-384-2456.’

National Grid said: ‘We are sorry to hear of any frustrations impacting Shareholders looking to find more information about the process.

‘We are in close contact with Equiniti, who manage this process on our behalf, to ensure all queries are being urgently addressed.’