A BOARD stacked with Petroleum Nominees appointed directors and led by ousted managing director John Heugh would stabilise Central Petroleum’s share registry and add deal-making firepower, at least according to Clive Palmer’s pitch.
Palmer said the three new directors Petroleum Nominees was seeking to appoint to the Central board would add much-needed deal-making clout to the company.
“The three new directors proposed by PNPL to work with a reinstated John Heugh as managing director bring a wealth of financial, commercial and corporate acumen and experience,” Palmer said in a statement sent to the media.
Last Friday a group of shareholders led by Petroleum Nominees filed a requisition of meeting for the removal of chairman Henry Askin and non-executive directors Richard Faull, William Dunmore, Andrew Whittle, and Bruce Elsholz.
In their place, the consortium is seeking to appoint William Scoch, Baljeet Singh and Tam Man Kin (Raymond) as directors.
“They represent one of the world’s best group of deal making directors in this regard,” Palmer said. Tam Man Kim is a former vice president of JP Morgan and was described by Palmer as a “veteran fund raiser” and as having “impeccable credentials”.
“While with JP Morgan, Raymond was the main facilitator of the $3 billion financing for Tata Motors’acquisition of Jaguar and Landrover, the $80 million acquisition of Oriental Brewing in South Korea and other stellar deals,” Palmer said.
Meanwhile Schoch and Singh both hold positions at Palmer’s Mineralogy, having both had experience with Palmer Petroleum in Papua New Guinea.
Palmer was also keen to play up Heugh’s credentials, telling the media that he would seek his wisdom to drive the company forward.
“Heugh’s technical and general management credentials are well established and he has the pioneering spirit and vision to take the company forward,” Palmer said.
Heugh for his part in turn praised Palmer’s record. “This includes the purchase of the $6 billion Palmer nickel refinery from BHP Billiton and a deal with a Chinese state-owned enterprise to build an iron ore mine near Cape Preston in the Pilbara,”
Heugh said.
“A keystone stake by PNPL could do a lot to stabilise the share register and attract more institutional long term investors, which is what the company needs badly if it is going to forge ahead with renewed growth.”
The Central board has attempted to play on fears that Palmer was essentially seeking to control the board in recent days.
Yesterday it said that it had received very little information on Palmer’s candidates, hinting at an ulterior motive to Palmer’s manoeuvring.
“We do know however that Mr Palmer, through PNPL,sought to conduct a farm-in to Central Petroleum’s assets at a price that in the collective judgement of senior staff and directors (other than John Heugh)substantially undervalued the company’s assets,”Central chairman Henry Askin said in a statement.
“We do not believe that any of the directors nominated by Mr Palmer could be considered independent directors.
“We believe that it is in the best interests of the majority of shareholders that the board include independent directors.”
Askin released the statement in response to a bid from Palmer to slap an injunction on a general meeting of shareholders slated for June 22, which would cement Richard Cottee’s new role as chief executive officer.
Central has already appointed Cottee has CEO in the interim, “because of the pressing requirements of company business in particular the need to progress commercial negotiations in the development program.”
According to Palmer, PNPL would be seeking to carry out farm-out deals from a “position of strength” to avoid the problem of multi-nationals out-spending and diluting Central in any other future farm-out deals.
CTP Price at posting:
43.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
