Found some more on Tim Granger.Compton brass call it...

Found some more on Tim Granger.

Compton brass call it quits
"Philosophical" divide spurred departures

By Rebecca Penty, Calgary Herald December 1, 2011

Nearly three years after Tim Granger took the helm of Compton Petroleum Corp. to overhaul a one-time oilpatch darling, the CEO is leaving the firm and the rest of management is following suit.

Two directors aligned with Granger and his team have already left the board of Compton, a Calgary-based intermediate oil and gas producer.

Friday will be Granger's last day at the firm he helped rescue from the grips of financial woes through a complicated restructuring and recapitalization that ended in August. "I spent the last 2.5 years bringing Compton back from the dead," Granger told the Herald Wednesday.

Granger, his fellow management and board directors who remained on after a board switch-up following the recapitalization had different "philosophical" views on the company than the directors appointed by new shareholders, he said.

Those shareholders - creditors who acquired their positions in Compton after an equity-for-debt swap done to rebalance the balance sheet - replaced four of seven existing board members with their own representatives. Existing shareholders watched their stakes in Compton get massively diluted with the deal.

Granger said there was no consensus on how to move the company forward, including over such things as growth - organic or through acquisitions - and whether to issue equity.

"I could see there was definitely going to be some differences."

After the recapitalization, employees lost their stock options. Disagreement ensued over the price at which to issue new stock-based compensation.

"That was probably the freshest discussion," said Granger, who in January will become the North Americabased CEO for Australian explorer and producer Molopo Energy Ltd.

Also leaving management posts are vice-president of business development David Horn, chief operating officer Shannon Ouellette and chief financial officer Theresa Kosek.

"It will be an orderly change," said Edward Bogle, a director appointed in September who will be interim CEO, noting management departing other than Granger have committed to stay on for a while, likely until a new chief executive is found.

Bogle, who was "disappointed" about the management exit, said Compton has started a search for a new CEO and has had "a lot of interest."

With management heading out the door, directors Steve Allan and David Fitzpatrick resigned from the company's board.

The remaining board members meet next week in Calgary to review next year's budget.
Allan said he supported executives who got to know Compton's assets intimately throughout its restructuring.

"I certainly felt they were the best ones to be able to move forward and capitalize on the opportunities the company had with a much cleaner, much more normalized balance sheet," Allan said.

Compton revealed the departure of executives and management Monday evening, after markets closed. Investors pushed shares down 87 cents or 14 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange Tuesday to close at $5.25. Shares got a lift on a good market news day Wednesday, to close at $5.50.

The company's 52-week high was posted on Jan. 5 at $94.

Analyst Gord Currie of Salman Partners said the management departure means a "great deal of uncertainty" for investors.

"I've never seen an entire management team quit before," Currie said, calling the loss more bad news for Compton, which has fought low gas prices and soaring debt for a "terrible" few years.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Compton+brass+call+quits/5794158/story.html#ixzz1fIKjCP6J