Reabold Resources PLC (AIM:RBD) has offered shareholders a special payout from the proceeds of this summer’s asset sale, as it continues its defence against what management is calling “an opportunistic attempt to seize control of the company”.
The management of Reabold, in a statement, said it intends to distribute £4mln from the Victory field sale to shareholders after the next tranche of funds from Shell.
The pledge comes ahead of an AGM on 16 November which was requisitioned by activist shareholders via Pershing Nominees, which seeks to change the Reabold management team – appointing new directors Kamran Sattar, Cathal Friel, Francesca Yardley and John McGoldrick.
Reabold, meanwhile, stated the reasons behind its unanimous recommendation that shareholder should vote against all resolutions put forward for the AGM.
"It is the board's view that the requisitioned general meeting is an opportunistic attempt to seize control of the company and its assets without paying a control premium to all shareholders, particularly as the requisition to replace the board was received less than two weeks following the agreed terms of sale of Corallian to Shell for which Reabold will receive £12.7mln,” Reabold said.
“The company believes that a portion of the £12.7mln cash receivable by the company from the sale of Corallian should be returned to shareholders and we are today stating our intent to distribute £4mln to shareholders upon receipt of the second tranche of funds from Shell.”
“Of significant concern to the company is the fact that the neither the requisitioning shareholders nor the proposed directors have outlined a strategy for Reabold.
“The current management team, with the oversight of the board, has created Reabold's portfolio since joining the board in 2017, and the proposed directors have not articulated how they would create value for shareholders.
“We continue to develop our portfolio of assets, and over the next twelve months we expect to see the results from the Pensacola well, the results of which will be key for the adjacent licence that we are acquiring, the farming out of our Reabold North Sea portfolio, and the drilling of the first horizontal well at West Newton.
“The current management team has significant knowledge of these assets and how best to extract value from them.
“Replacing the board of Reabold with proposed directors that do not possess the same level of experience and understanding could significantly derail the development of these assets at a crucial time for the company and its shareholders," the company said.
Under its deal to sell the Victory project to Shell it initially receives £3.2mln of a total of £10mln (gross) across staged payments tied to progress at the field development project.