Spirent Board Shaken Up - Chairman Sacked
Following a demand for an Extraordinary General Meeting, the telecoms testing firm, Spirent's board has had a significant shake-up, with the sacking of the Chairman, John Weston and two fellow directors. The dismissals were unexpected as the motion to dismiss them was generally expected to fail.
The EGM was called by the investors, Sherborne Investors, Artemis Investment Management and Credit Suisse Asset Management who were claiming that the company has underperformed. The three investors control some 25% of the voting shares of the company.
Edward Bramson, Ian Brindle, Gerard L. Eastman Jr. and Alexander Walker have been appointed directors of the Company. In addition, at the conclusion of the EGM Marcus Beresford and Kurt Hellstrom resigned as Directors. Spirent says that a further announcement will be made in due course regarding the composition of the Board and the roles, functions and responsibilities of each Director.
All resolutions were passed, with 55% of votes cast in favour of Mr Weston's removal and 63% in favour of the appointment of Edward Bramson, Sherborne's chairman and chief executive and the proposed new chairman of Spirent.
Mr Bramson has a reputation for reviving companies in difficulty, and had previously restructured the UK chemicals group, Elementis. The ousted directors said the vote was decided on a desire for "short-term share price gain rather than on the long-term success of the company."
Posted to the site on 2nd January 2007
