JKX Board Continues Confrontations with Two Top Investors

The confrontation between the Board of the UK-based JKX and the two top investors continues, as the top management tries to increase its leeway to take strategic decisions.

The Financial Times reports that Paul Davies, who last week fended off a bid to oust him by Eclairs and Glengary, asked the two investors to stop hampering the Board unless they wanted to buy the energy company.

“They can’t have it both ways – they either buy the company or don’t. We are not saying stop buying shares or don’t buy the company. But they can’t control it with the current shareholding,” said Davies as reported by the Financial Times.

Nigel Moore expressed a similar position on a letter released on Wednesday, referring to two special resolutions that require the approval of at least 75% of those voting. Eclairs and Glengary control 39% of shares. Eclairs is owned by Ukrainian duo Igor Kolomoisky and Gennady Bogolyubov, while Glengary is controlled by Russian oligarch Alexander Zhukov.

“The Special Resolutions in question concern the authorisation of your Board to buy-back ordinary shares and to allot up to 5% of the issued share capital for cash on a non-pre-emptive basis. These are conventional authorisations given to the Boards of almost every public company. They are necessary for the Board to be able to build shareholder value. Mr Kolomoisky's nominees have resisted these Resolutions for the past three years,” wrote Moore in the letter.