Oil explorer Capricorn Energy has agreed to add nominees from investor Palliser to its board before its annual general meeting next month.
The FTSE 250 firm will hold the meeting on 1 February to vote on a proposed tie-up with NewMed and a board shake-up that could see Capricorn’s chief executive, finance boss and five other directors ousted.
The meeting was requested by Palliser, Capricorn’s third largest investor, which wants the merger to be blocked and the board overhauled.
Decision time: Capricorn will hold a general meeting on 1 February
Last week, Capricorn said Palliser’s arguments for opposing the deal were based on ‘incorrect facts and assumptions’ and invited the investor to review the details of the tie-up.
Today, it told Palliser it could have ‘a number’ of its nominees on the board ahead of the general meeting.
‘We want to reiterate our offer to meet with your nominees immediately so that we can expeditiously complete our corporate governance processes,’ Capricorn told Palliser in a letter.
‘We also are prepared to sign confidentiality agreements with your nominees so that they can review additional information.’
Palliser yesterday criticised Capricorn’s decision to hold the general meeting on or around the same date as seeking approval for its acquisition of NewMed.
In the letter, Palliser and other investors said the decision to coincide the timing of the two general meetings ‘effectively conflates two distinct matters: shareholder consideration of the NewMed transaction and shareholder consideration of proposed board changes.’
Capricorn shares were little changed at 241p in morning trading on Monday.