11.08.2016

More pressure on Speedy chairman

Toscafund, the largest shareholder in UK rental company Speedy has stepped up the pressure on executive chairman Jan Astrand to quit. See Speedy chairman under attack
In late July Toscafund, which holds almost 20 percent of Speedy’s shares, called for an extraordinary general meeting to discuss Åstrand’s removal. It also proposed David Shearer, a partner at Buchanan Shearer Associates, Chairman of Liberty Living and Scottish Edge Fund as a replacement. The meeting is expected to be held no later than September 9th.

The hedge fund has now followed up with an open letter which says: “it would be in shareholders’ best interests if you were to resign ahead of the meeting to save both time and expense. The simple fact is that you have failed to deliver during your tenure as executive chairman and we do not believe you have the appropriate track record or attitude to oversee the company’s turnaround."

Toscafund reportedly started targeting Åstrand after he was blamed for ending talks with HSS last year, prompting two non-executive directors - Chris Masters and James Morely to resign. He then promoted finance director Russell Down to chief executive and took over as executive chairman, in contravention of corporate governance rules.

What we do not know at this stage is how much support Toscafund is getting from other shareholders.

UPDATE

Speedy reacted to the letter referencing the earlier call for merger talks with HSS stating: "Speedy Hire’s recovery is progressing well and to engage in any sector consolidation would potentially put that recovery at risk”. It did add though that the time was right for Astrand to return to a non-executive role.

Watch this space.