LONDON (Alliance News) - Electra Private Equity PLC on Thursday said Edward Bramson, the activist investor who fought his way onto the board of the company last year, has been appointed interim chief executive.
Electra said Bramson will take on the interim CEO role on an unpaid basis and it has started the search for a chief financial officer. The moves come after Electra said it had decided to create an executive function in order to boost its corporate governance structure and provide ongoing support to its board.
The private equity investor added the review of its investment policy and structure, announced in January, is ongoing and it continues to expect to complete the review in full by the autumn. The moves made on Thursday, however, represent some interim changes it has made with immediate effect.
As part of this, Electra also said it has terminated its Management & Investment Guideline agreement and limited partnership agreement, under which management of its operations and investments is outsourced to private equity firm Electra Partners LLP.
Electra said it will continue to review its options, including potentially retaining Electra Partners as investment manager under a "mutually acceptable agreement".
Electra Private Equity also said David Lis, the former chief investment officer of Aviva Investors, and Paul Goodson, former chairman of Great Bear Distribution Ltd and ex-managing director of Barclays Private Equity, have both joined the board as non-executive directors.
"The changes announced today are designed to strengthen the corporate governance of the company and provide the board with the necessary support to undertake its detailed review of strategy and structure," said Neil Johnson, Electra Private Equity's chairman.
"The decision to serve notice to Electra Partners is a pragmatic step that will allow the board to act on any specific recommendations of the review in a more timely way," he added.
Electra shares were up 0.1% to 3,933.00 pence.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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