Hurricane notes Crystal Amber's plan to remove CEO from board

(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, which the company on Friday said is progressing well. It said it requested all participants to submit their requests by January 7. Hurricane Chair Philip Wolfe, among those Crystal Amber seeks to remove from the board, said on Friday: "Given the excellent traction we are seeing in the FSP, which the company commenced to explore all options for shareholders and to fulfil Crystal Amber's goals, the decision to issue the requisition notice at this point is simply mystifying. We note that Crystal Amber is open to bids resulting from the FSP. Crystal Amber wants to appoint Tony Buckingham and Franco Castelli as directors. They are former executives of Albion Energy Ltd. Buckingham was chief executive officer of Albion, Castelli was managing director. Crystal Amber has been a shareholder in the energy company since 2013, and last year it managed to oust five directors and appoint two of its own - David Craik and John Wright, who it now seeks to remove. 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. In November, Hurricane Energy launched a formal sales process and said that in the event that this doesn't result in a transaction, the company will commence the capital return programme. Back then it said that it had "multiple expressions of interest received from credible counterparties". The company ceased productions at Lancaster in September. Hurricane Energy shares rose 1.0% to 7.68 pence each on Friday morning in London, while Crystal Amber Fund shares were 0.3% higher at 97.75p each. By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter Comments and questions to EMAIL Copyright 2022 Alliance News Ltd.