Crystal Amber Fund asks for board removal of Hurricane CEO

(Alliance News) - Activist investor Crystal Amber Fund Ltd on Friday requisitioned a general meeting to remove six directors of Hurricane Energy PLC, including the executives and chair, and appoint two of its own. This follows an attempt by Hurricane to be taken over via a formal sales process. Crystal Amber wants to appoint Tony Buckingham and Franco Castelli as directors. Crystal aims to remove Hurricane's Chief Executive Officer Antony Maris, Chief Financial Officer Richard Chaffe, and Non-Executive Chair Philip Wolfe, as well as its own nominees Juan Morera, David Craik, John Wright, the latter two Crystal Amber managed to appoint in June 2021. Meanwhile, last week Monday, Hurricane said it intended to return capital of up to USD70 million to shareholders in the first quarter of 2023, which it said it plans to vote on at a general meeting on January 11. Crystal Amber fund on Friday said the capital return would require approval by the High Court of Justice in England & Wales. Back then it said that it had "multiple expressions of interest received from credible counterparties". Hurricane in early November said: "Further distributions totalling up to USD110 million could be made during 2023 and 2024 in aggregate, with a final distribution of up to USD30 million in 2025, following the cessation of production from the Lancaster operations." The company ceased productions at Lancaster in September. By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter Comments and questions to EMAIL Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.