UK-based outsourcing firm Interserve has gone into administration, reports The Guardian. Earlier this year Interserve agreed to a rescue deal to reduce £650 million debt pile, however shareholders rejected the rescue deal during a General Meeting last week with the company’s largest shareholder, the US hedge fund Coltrane, opposing its restructuring plans. Approximately 16,000 small shareholders have lost their investment, with the business sold to hedge funds and banks via a “pre-pack” administration which means Interserve, which employs 45,000 people in the UK, can continue trading. Interserve has contracts in the NHS, including Ambulance preparation in London, supervises 40,000 offenders on probation, and is responsible for live firing exercises in Ministry of Defence ranges. The company ran into financial difficulty after delays and cancellations to key construction projects, as well as an unsuccessful foray into waste-to-energy projects that left it with huge debts, requiring refinancing to avoid failure. Accountancy group EY will manage the administration, which will be followed by a debt reduction plan. Kevin Brandstatter, Trade Union GMB’s National Officer, commented, "Ministers have learnt absolutely nothing from the Carillion fiasco and are hell-bent on outsourcing public sector contracts. Shambolic mismanagement is putting jobs put on the line and services in jeopardy. Our public services can't go on like this.” Interserve and the Cabinet Office, which oversees state suppliers, said there would be no disruption to the public services that Interserve manages and job losses were not expected in the short term and the pension scheme was protected.