RE: Chairman resigned1 Jul 2021 15:58
This gives an independent view on the HUR debacle and the BOD's role in it.
I would say "I'm invested" if it were not now minuscule!
I don't trust McT and hope he resigns/is dumped; if not, I'll sell out of KMR after a dozen years!
The [UK] TimesToday 10:45
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hand-cash-back-to-complete-the-year-rlht5k5d8
Wind of change
Anyone might think Hurricane Energy’s imploding board was in line for a bung from the bondholders. Float the notion of a “side-deal” and a spokesman for the Aim-listed North Sea oil outfit declares: “It is truly ridiculous to even posit it.”
Apologies for being ridiculous. But at least bribery, which to be clear Hurricane strenuously denies, would have offered an explanation for the board’s bizarre behaviour over the past two months. Under chairman Steven McTiernan and chief executive Antony Maris, it cut a deal to all but wipe out the shareholders, giving 95 per cent of the equity to bondholders. And all to pay off just $50 million of a $230 million debt, due in July next year. On Tuesday, a High Court judge threw out the plan: the cue for the five non-execs to resign en masse.
Their plan was outrageous: a point driven home by activist investor Crystal Amber, with 14.2 per cent. Yes, Hurricane’s operations in the Lancaster field, the first to produce from a “fractured basement reservoir”, has had setbacks. And the debt must be repaid. But, whatever Hurricane says, there is nothing in the “directors’ fiduciary duties” to compel them into such a one-sided deal. Or for them to run up a ludicrous $17 million in legal and adviser fees pursuing it. Or for McTiernan to try to strong-arm shareholders into it with dark warnings that the alternative was “insolvent liquidation”.
Luckily, Crystal Amber put up a fight, calling an EGM that’s no longer needed to oust the non-execs. And the judge agreed that, with the oil price up to $75, there is a “reasonable possibility” the funding gap “could be bridged”. Two Crystal Amber nominees have now joined the board, one as chairman — even if Maris is still in post. And, yes, it needs to raise cash and strike a deal with bondholders. Even on shares up 29 per cent to 3.6p, it’s valued at just £72 million. But you’d expect a better deal without McTiernan and his cave-in crew.