(Alliance News) - Petropavlovsk PLC on Monday said Prosperity Capital Management Ltd will be requisitioning a general meeting to allow for shareholders to re-appoint five former directors and two new directors.
Shares in Petropavlovsk were down 1.9% at 25.55 pence in London on Monday morning.
The re-appointments would be of Timothy McCutcheon, Fiona Paulus, Harry Kenyon-Slaney, Pavel Maslovskiy, and Damien Hackett. All five are former directors of the Russian gold miner's board who were not re-elected at its annual general meeting.
The two new independent non-executive directors proposed by Prosperity are Vitaly Zarkhin and Michael Kavanagh.
This follows a tempestuous AGM in which proposals 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 committee chair, and Timothy McCutcheon as director were all rejected.
Petropavlovsk said it understands from Prosperity that it manages more than 20% of the company's issued capital, although the requisition will be proposed by three Prosperity funds controlling 11.4% of Petropavlovsk voting rights.
The company said it will provide an update for shareholders once formal notice to call the general meeting is received, along with results of a court hearing expected on Monday.
The court hearing concerns an application from 7.5% Petropavlovsk shareholder Everest Alliance Ltd concerning temporary directors Alya Samokhvalova, Angelica Phillips, Peter Hambro, and Johnny Martin Smith.
Everest believes these temporary directors "were not validly appointed as directors of the company under the articles of association of the company and therefore should be removed as directors."
Petropavlovsk is still intending that the temporary directors step down at the conclusion of the general meeting along with Martin Smith, who was appointed to the board on Tuesday last week.
"The temporary directors were appointed to ensure that the company has adequate governance arrangements and is properly managed by an interim team of directors and executives with detailed knowledge of the company and its operations until a GM could be convened," said Petropavlovsk.
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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