Amigo Holdings PLC (LON:AMGO) founder James Benamor has confirmed that he has given irrevocable instructions to his broker to buy shares if and when he is made chief executive of the company again.
Benamor, whose Richmond Group vehicle has requisitioned a shareholder vote to reinstate him as a director and remove Amigo's senior board members, instructed broker Redmayne Bentley to buy shares at prices up to 20p.
The instruction, Benamor indicated on Twitter, is to be carried out once he is “appointed, approved and installed” as CEO and will end when Richmond regains a 29% stake in Amigo or from 30 days after the date he is made CEO, whichever is sooner, with an expiry of February 1, 2021.
Richmond had held a 61% stake in Amigo at the start of June but vowed to sell 1% of that every day while the current board remained in place, with the latest details showing it had a 5.66% holding as of September 3, 2020.
Amigo, which said it will confirm the date and time of the shareholder vote by the end of this week, issued a caution to shareholders, including pointing out that Benamor’s irrevocable instruction “is conditional on Mr Benamor being appointed CEO of Amigo and not upon him being elected to be a director of Amigo”.
The company added that even if Benamor is elected by shareholders he “will not automatically become CEO” as his appointment “requires the approval of the board of Amigo and the subsequent approval of the FCA”, with “no guarantee approval will be granted”.
Amigo, which also denied that it is considering a share buyback, said that Richmond will require the approval of the FCA to acquire 20% or more of Amigo shares and thereby become a "controller" of a regulated entity”.
Benamor said on Twitter that the irrevocable purchase contract “is conditional on me being approved as CEO by the FCA” and he “will not take up that position unless I am approved as CEO and as a shareholder.
“We do not foresee a problem with that as I have been both before.”
Our irrevocable purchase contract is conditional on me being approved as CEO by the FCA. We’ve been clear about that.
I will not take up that position unless I am approved as CEO and as a shareholder. We do not foresee a problem with that as I have been both before. https://t.co/J3a9N21TKz
— James Benamor (@JamesBenamor) September 7, 2020
Shares in Amigo were up in early trading on Monday but flat at 12.7p by mid-morning.
Analysts at broker Peel Hunt said they found the irrevocable instruction to acquire up to 29% of Amigo's shares "highly unusual given the has spent the last month or two selling down his holding", adding that "this remains a volatile situation that is now almost being played out on Twitter".
--Adds shares and broker comment--