Bowleven rebel seeks removal of chairman Billy Allan

Crown Ocean Capital, the rebel investor that this week succeeded in ousting five directors at oil and gas explorer Bowleven, is now calling for the removal of its chairman.

Crown Ocean called on Bowleven chairman Billy Allan to 'step down now'. Picture: Contributed

Billy Allan narrowly escaped the purge at Edinburgh-based Bowleven, which saw chief executive Kevin Hart ousted from the board along with finance director Kerry Crawford and non-executives John Martin, Tim Sullivan and Philip Tracy.

• READ MORE: Bowleven directors ousted after bitter investor battle

But Crown Ocean today said that the former Asco boss “is reluctant to accept the verdict of shareholders over the future strategy of Bowleven or to recognise that it is no longer appropriate for current executives to continue to hold their pre-existing executive roles”.

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It has called on Allan “to step down as a director and chairman now to avoid further unnecessary waste of Bowleven’s resources”.

The Monaco-based private investor, which has built up a 22 per cent stake in Aim-quoted Bowleven, has requisitioned a general meeting to remove Allan and appoint two further independent directors, Julien Balkany and Didier Lechartier.

In its requisition notice, Crown Ocean said: “We note that Kevin Hart still acts as chief executive of the company and the other removed executive board member Kerry Crawford remains a Bowleven employee without termination notices having been served.

“We understand that Mr Allan has no intention to change this. We also want to remind shareholders that Mr Allan does not own a single share in Bowleven as of 31 December 2016.”

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