Interserve faces uncertain future as shareholders reject rescue deal

Troubled British outsourcer Interserve is on the brink of collapse after its shareholders rejected a rescue plan that would have slashed its debts and handed control of the ailing firm to its lenders.

Interserve's shareholders voted 59 per cent against a debt-for-equity rescue package at a general meeting in central London on Friday, in a victory for its biggest shareholder, US hedge fund Coltrane, which had opposed the plan.