Yahoo Finance Petropavlovsk's biggest shareholder throws weight behind rebel investors
The biggest investor in Petropavlovsk has thrown his support behind a pair of mystery shareholders seeking to oust the gold miner’s board.
Kenes Rakishev, who owns 22pc of the Russia-based mining company, said he would support a requisition motion by CABS Platform and Slevin to replace the entire board, apart from his own representative, Bektas Mukazhanov.
Mr Rakishev, a Kazakh businessman who has been vocal about Petropavlovsk’s need for a fresh strategy since acquiring his stake in December, said: “I have been open about my belief that the company’s share price is undervalued. I had hoped that the current board would provide the leadership and vision necessary to enable the company and its future prospects to be reassessed by the market, and for the share price to perform accordingly.
“Unfortunately that did not happen for a number of reasons.
“I agree with the view independently reached by the activist shareholders that the company needs new leadership to grow.”
The identity of the two rebel shareholders, who are registered in off-shore jurisdictions, remains a mystery. They have built up their stakes since March, and earlier this month called for a clean-out of the board alongside the reinstatement of three former directors: Pavel Maslovskiy, Petropavlovsk’s former chief executive and co-founder; Sir Roderic Lyne, the UK’s former ambassador to Russia; and Robert Jenkins.
Mr Rakishev had previously called for Mr Maslovskiy to be reinstated but his appeal fell on deaf ears, with the board opting to appoint Roman Deniskin, who started last month.
Ian Ashby, Petropavlovsk’s chairman, said the company was “considering its options” in light of the latest development. “We remain open to dialogue with all of our shareholders, including Mr Rakishev and the requisitioning holders, who have not provided details on the beneficial owners each nominee is representing. The board remains committed to act in the best interests of all stakeholders,” he said.
The miner’s current board has only been in place since its annual general meeting last June, when a trio of investors led a coup against the company’s former chairman Peter Hambro, resulting in him being ousted as a director.
Mr Hambro, who retains a 0.5pc stake in the miner, told The Daily Telegraph earlier this month he was “delighted” that the activist shareholders had decided to challenge the board.
Petropavlovsk must hold its next AGM by the end of June. The company's shares climbed 4.1pc to 6.86p.
