The Restaurant Group PLC (LSE:RTN) (TRG), the owner of Wagamama and other hospitality brands, is under fire again from activist investors calling for the removal of a board member.
Irenic Capital Management, a New York-based investor with a 2.4% stake in TRG, wants chairman Ken Hanna to be replaced.
In a statement from the disgruntled investor, it claimed the former Tesco director showed a “documented disregard for the best interests of its shareholders.”
Adam Katz, the co-founder and chief investment officer at the investment firm, claims his company has tried to work in private with the TRG board over the last year.
He said: “We’ve encouraged the company’s leadership to appropriately align executive compensation with shareholder returns, reduce excess overhead costs, and speed up the disposal of non-core assets to deliver and focus on the high-return Wagamama operations.
“The response from the board and management has been to dither and to delay. The result for all of the company’s shareholders has been disaster.”
Katz also expressed annoyance with the board’s refusal to allow an activist investor a seat on the board as an independent director.
“During the course of our private engagement, Hanna has made clear that he is unwilling to consider any… candidates,” the Irenic founder added.
It isn’t just Irenic which has expressed its displeasure with the firm, prior to the group’s AGM in May.
Firms such as Oasis Management and TRM Capital showed concern about the hospitality firm’s remuneration policy and called for a spin-out of all brands apart from Wagamama.
In response to a tough AGM, TRG soon after announced the departure of Kirk Davies, the group’s finance chief, who also happened to receive the most votes in favour of re-election at the meeting.
Oasis Management, one of TRG’s largest stakeholders with a 14% holding, criticised the move claiming Davies’ replacement Mark Chambers was not the right fit for the role.
Shares in TRG are trading at around the 38p mark on Wednesday, up a little over 0.2%.