Premier Investments has threatened to incite an extraordinary general meeting in an effort to force three non-executive directors on Myer’s board to resign – a move that would allow a majority independent board made up of people with the “necessary skills and experience”.
According to Premier, board members should “for once” put the company’s shareholders first and resign, but failing that it has instructed its lawyers, Arnold Bloch Leibler, to request a copy of Myer’s shareholder register.
The plan is to call an EGM – something which can be done by a shareholder that holds at least five per cent of a business’ total shareholding, and something which Premier can do and has done before.
“Any other action would be futile, and costly for Myer shareholders who have endured enough,” Premier wrote in a statement.
The threat comes a day after Premier refused a position on Myer’s board, stating he is not interested in working with the department store’s board members at this point.
“Premier has nothing to gain from spending time with the members of the current Myer Board. The failure to appoint a permanent Chairman or any additional non-executive Directors seems to indicate that no credible company director would accept an offer to work with the current Myer Board,” Premier said in a statement. “The only thing Premier will accept from the current Myer Board is the resignation of its three remaining non-executive directors.”
Myer’s board doesn’t seem thrilled with this idea, however, with Myer acting chairwoman JoAnne Stephenson stating “we have the right team and are well positioned to build on this to create value for all shareholders.”
“The board is focused on ensuring that [Myer CEO] John King and his management team are able to execute the all-important peak trading period without distraction,” Stephenson said.
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