Cromwell Boardroom Blitz’d

19 November 2020

Cromwell went into a trading halt yesterday ahead of its Annual General Meeting which was destined to be a showdown between the previous Board and the recently appointed ARA Board members.

The agenda contained 6 items including the re-appointment of each of Leon Blitz, Andrew Fay, John Humprey, the adoption of the Remuneration Report and a Spill Resolution conditional on the failure of the Remuneration resolution.

Approximately 60% of Cromwell’s unitholders voted to remove chairman Leon Blitz, deputy chairman Andrew Fay and director John Humphrey, with the remaining board to face a spill after its antagonistic major investor, ARA Asset Management, used its influence to force a second strike against the Board’s remuneration report.

ARA have been seeking control of Cromwell for the past 2 years and launched their proportional takeover offer in July this year. ARA hold a 29.8% stake and have the support of other major unitholders.

ARA acquired the additional units at $0.88125 per security. The unit price began to lift about this position on the 30th October and whilst the proportional takeover offer remains in place, the units are now trading at $1.00 per security.

Cromwell are expected to resume trading this morning.