Shares soar as Hurricane Energy’s activist investor moves to oust firm’s non-executive directors

One of Hurricane Energy’s biggest shareholders has moved to have several members ousted from the company’s board with “immediate effect”.

The troubled oil and gas firm has received a “requisition notice” from Crystal Amber requiring its board to convene a general meeting of shareholders to consider removing five non-executive directors.

They are Steven McTiernan, David Jenkins, John van der Welle, Sandy Shaw and Beverley Smith.

The Guernsey-based fund, which has a 14.7% stake in Hurricane, is also proposing to appoint John Wright and David Cruik to the board as non-executive directors.

Crystal Amber claimed the Hurricane board has “demonstrably failed to protect” shareholder’s interests and has accused it of being “evasive and obstructive”.

© Hurricane Energy

The fund believes that a new Hurricane board should assume responsibility at the “earliest opportunity”.

London-listed Hurricane’s top team said it is “considering the content” of the notice, which it will respond to in accordance with the requirements of section 303 of the Companies Act 2006.

A further announcement is expected in “due course”.

Shares in Hurricane had shot up more than 70% to 1.25p at 9:15am.

Crystal Amber cited several cases in which it believes Hurricane showed “disdain” towards it shareholders as a reason for lodging the notice.

It includes a recently agreed financial restructuring plan with a majority of bondholders that would lead to the company being wound down in the coming years.

According to Crystal Amber, the move would mean shareholders’ interests in the firm being “wiped out” in favour of the bondholders, branding it “premature”.

It also pointed to the fund’s relationship with Hurricane, which it says has experienced a “dramatic deterioration” in the last six months.

In March, in its interim results for the six months to the end of the year, Crystal Amber threatened to take “appropriate action” as it had “lost confidence” in Hurricane bosses.

In September last year, Antony Maris took over as Hurricane’s chief executive on the same day the firm announced a huge downsizing of its resources base west of Shetland, with shares tumbling as a result.

In the last few months, the company has been looking at ways to increase output from its wholly-owned Lancaster field, which has only been producing from one of its two wells recently.

But Hurricane, which must repay or refinance a £180m convertible bond next year, warned in December that further development activity “might not be possible” unless talks with stakeholders yielded funds.

Crystal Amber has said the firm’s future prospects would be “greatly improved” by removing the five board members and the appointment of its nominees.

However, it said that, due to their “technical and financial knowledge”, the should continue in the office for the “time being”.