Requisition of Extraordinary General Meeting

RNS Number : 6554S

East Imperial PLC

17 November 2021

 

17 November 2021

 East Imperial plc

("East Imperial" or the "Company")

Requisition of Extraordinary General Meeting

East Imperial, the global purveyor of ultra-premium beverages, announces that it has received a letter from Taylor Partners Limited requisitioning an extraordinary general meeting of the Company's shareholders (the "Requisition"), requiring the Company to convene an extraordinary general meeting within 21 days from the date of receipt by the Company of the Requisition. This was accompanied by a letter from Dr Andrew Regan, Chief Executive of Corvus Capital Limited, as an adviser to Taylor Partners Limited. The meeting must be held within 28 days from the date the meeting is convened.

The Requisition proposes resolutions that the Chairman of the Company, Rob Soni, and Dr Olufunke Abimbola be removed from office as directors of the Company and that Alistair McGeorge be appointed as a non-executive director of the Company and the non-executive chairman of the Company and Colin Henry be appointed as a non-executive director of the Company, all with immediate effect.

The Board is disappointed that Dr Regan thought it necessary to seek a Requisition, with the Board having already noted in its announcement of 29 September 2021 that it may be beneficial to add additional Boardroom experience. Since then, the Board has commenced a formal process to appoint additional non-executives with an emphasis on increasing the level of UK PLC boardroom experience and premium beverage expertise.

As part of this process, the Board reviewed the CVs of the proposed new directors and has interviewed one of them. Following that exercise, the Board reiterates its view that both Dr Regan's chosen candidates appear to have little or no recent PLC experience or expertise in the premium beverage sector.

Dr Regan's Requisition is a further step in his continuing attempts to undermine the Board and the significant operational progress that has been achieved by the Company since its listing in July. The Board is firmly of the view that Dr Regan's proposals and his actions to date are a blatant attempt to insert his own representatives on to the Board in order to gain control of the Company without paying a premium to all shareholders.

The Board of Directors' detailed response to the Requisition will be announced in due course in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. In the meantime, shareholders are advised to take no action at this time.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.  Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Ends

Enquiries:

MHP Communications

Peter Hewer  [phone]

Rachel Mann [phone]

[e-mail]

 

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