In the guardian on wednesday9 Sep 2010 13:03
This is interesting, i can see the sp going up if the company gets broken up im not selling any of mine i want £5
David Montgomery is attempting to face down a move from shareholders who want to oust him as chief executive of pan-European newspaper group Mecom.
Montgomery, who in January last year had to quell a revolt that resulted in six directors resigning, is understood to be attempting to halt a move from Aviva, Invesco and Legal & General to try and replace him with Patrick Tillieux, a former senior executive at broadcasters SBS and ProSiebenSat.1.
According to one source, Aviva Investors and Legal & General have held a meetings in recent weeks with non-executive directors of Mecom, supported by Invesco, who did not attend.
The rebel shareholders are seeking to replace Montgomery by 22 October, when the company next reports its financial performance.
They are understood to want to break the company up and focus on the Netherlands – Mecom's biggest operation – as well as ousting chief operating officer Keith Allen.
However, it is understood that the board of Mecom has rejected the plan put forward by the rebel shareholders, which together own about 50% of the company, leaving the option of an extraordinary general meeting to force a vote over the proposed changes.
Mecom has cut costs, sold off a number of its newspaper operations and raised £140m from investors in a bid to weather the downturn and put the debt-laden business back into growth.