9th Jan 2015 16:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - Petroceltic International PLC Friday confirmed it has received a requisition to call an extraordinary general meeting to remove its Chief Executive Brian O'Cathain from largest shareholder Worldview Capital Management SA, which has also warned the company it will take further legal action if it attempts to delay the meeting.
In early December, Worldview filed a lawsuit against the company's directors alleging they breached a corporate governance agreement and called for O'Cathain to step down, sparking a war of words between the two companies, with Worldview attacking Petroceltic's corporate governance and Petroceltic refuting its claims.
Worldview said Thursday it holds a 28% stake in Petroceltic, making it the company's largest shareholder.
On Thursday, Worldview released a statement which said it had requested the meeting to remove O'Cathain and replace him with "an industry veteran who brings an outstanding track record of delivering success and good governance." Petroceltic confirmed it has received the request from Worldview and is in the process of confirming a date of when the meeting will be held.
Worldview released an open letter to Petroceltic later on Friday urging the company to "hold the vote without delay" because it "may negatively effect the company's operations and shareholder value."
Worldview has identified a candidate for the board in Maurice Dijols, the former president of the Russian operations of US-based oil services group Schlumberger Ltd. It proposes that Dijols will join the board as an independent non-executive director alongside Angelo Moskov, a founder partner and director at Worldview.
"Worldview believes that in order to put an end to these continuous failures and revamp the company's ailing strategy, the company's board needs to be strengthened with another oil and gas executive who has a track record of delivering positive change," said Worldview in a statement on Thursday.
In its open letter, Worldview said Petroceltic should take no steps which may effect the company's ability to execute its strategy, including entering into any significant contracts or appointing any further directors, until the meeting has been held and shareholders "have had the opportunity to direct the shape of the board they wish to see and the direction they wish the company to take."
Although Petroceltic has confirmed a meeting will take place, in December it said that Worldview's legal proceedings were "totally without merit and misconceived". It has not said when the meeting will take place, but Worldview said that the soonest possible date for the meeting would be on February 6, and warned it will take further legal action if the company attempts to delay the meeting.
"Should you choose to ignore our legitimate request, we reserve our rights to seek urgent injunctive relief to restrain the company from taking such action pending the outcome of the EGM, as well as bringing proceedings against individual directors responsible for authorising such action," said Worldview in the open letter.
Petroceltic shares were up 0.1% to 125.25 pence per share on Friday afternoon.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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