Threat of legal action if vote to sack McInerney board not taken

THE MCINERNEY plc shareholder who is proposing to sack the group’s board said he would take legal action if the motion was not heard at a meeting the company intended to call shortly.

David Nabarro, who owns 21.45 per cent of the troubled house building firm wanted to call an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to vote on a proposal to sack the existing board and replace it with himself and two colleagues, Kevin Lynch and John Garratt.

However, McInerney’s company secretary, Mark Shakespeare, has written to Mr Nabarro to say his initial attempt to requisition the meeting was invalid, and adds that the directors themselves intend holding a general meeting “in short course” to put a number of proposals to shareholders.

In a letter to shareholders, Mr Nabarro says if any extraordinary general meeting proposed by the board “fails to include my resolutions to remove them, we will apply to the Irish High Court for injunctive relief”.

The group’s Irish division is in the final stages of a drawn-out examinership process that began last August.

The Supreme Court is likely to rule on whether or not a rescue plan for the group, drawn up during this process, can go ahead over the next few weeks.

McInerney owes €113 million to three Irish banks which opposed the examinership and rescue proposals. These proposals centred on a €25 million settlement of the debt offered by a new backer, Oaktree Capital. Its British business is in administration.

Mr Nabarro acquired his shares last May, largely as a result of the unwinding of contracts for difference held by businessman Seán Quinn in McInerney plc.

He subsequently began campaigning to have the board sacked and replaced with himself and his colleagues, as he argues that it should still be possible to recover some value for shareholders in the plc. His letter to shareholders states that McInerney informed him that his request for an extraordinary general meeting was not valid as his shares are not held in his own name, but in a nominee account held by a broker’s firm, Redmayne Bentley.

Mr Nabarro intends to continue to seek such a meeting, but says that as a result of the company’s ruling, it is not likely to be held until early August. In the meantime, he is asking shareholders to attend a meeting on July 12th in Bewley’s Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin, to discuss the group’s problems and the means by which they can retrieve some value from it. He is placing advertisements in a number of newspapers and on a website, Savemcinerney.com

Mr Nabarro pointed out yesterday that any motion or resolution passed at such a meeting would not be binding on the board.

McInerney confirmed yesterday that it intends holding an extraordinary general meeting shortly.