(Alliance News) - Petropavlovsk PLC on Thursday said a shareholder is seeking an injunction after the Russia-focused gold miner appointed a temporary board after its tempestuous annual general meeting.
Everest Alliance Ltd, which holds a 7.5% stake in the FTSE 250 firm, believes Petropavlovsk's temporary directors Peter Hambro, Alya Samokhvalova, Angelica Phillips and Johnny Smith were not validly appointed.
Petropavlovsk on Tuesday said proposals by the board to re-elect Pavel Maslovskiy as chief executive, Danila Kotlyarov as chief financial officer, Fiona Paulus as chair designate, Harry Kenyon-Slaney as senior independent director, Robert Jenkins as audit committee chair, Damien Hackett as risk commitee chair, and Timothy McCutcheon as director were all rejected.
It added that proxy voting on the resolutions submitted at the AGM had been cast to elect Maxim Kharin, James Cameron, Katia Ray, and Charlotte Philipps as directors.
Petropavlovsk's said analysis showed votes cast against the existing board members were made almost entirely by four shareholder groups. These were Joint Stock Company Uzhuralzoloto Group of Cos which accounted for 22%, Everest Alliance and Slevin which accounted for 12% combined, and Fortiana Holdings which accounted for 5%.
Petropavlovsk stated that it believes the voting outcome was engineered by UGC and Nikolai Lustiger - who represents Everest and Slevin - who have planned to use their minority stakes to gain control of the company.
It said that following its AGM, it appointed a temporary board, with Samokhvalova in the role of CEO, Hambro will become non-executive chair, with Phillips and Smith becoming independent non-executive directors.
If Everest's injunction is successful however, those elected by shareholders at the AGM would be allowed to join Petropavlovsk's board.
Petropavlovsk said on Thursday: "An initial interim hearing in respect of the application was held on July 1. Following this hearing, no final injunction was granted by the court, however the court has temporarily prevented the company and the board from holding any board meeting or (in the case of any director) from acting as a director of the company without giving at least 24 hours' notice in writing to Everest, save in limited circumstances."
A further hearing has been scheduled for July 6.
Shares in the company were 0.9% higher at 26.20 pence each in London on Thursday.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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