Coalworks chairman Wayne Mitchell has written a letter to shareholders saying it was not in their interests if he, and CEO Andrew Firek, were removed after the take-over by Whitehaven coal and Macquarie bank.
Mitchell said in the letter it would leave the board made up of Whitehaven and Macquarie nominees, which could make it easier for a potential acquirer to gain control of Coalworks without paying a price that reflected the company’s assets.
“The removal of the chairman and CEO would also remove independence from the Coalworks board at a critical time for the broader sector, and at a critical time for Coalworks following the unsolicited conditional offer by Whitehaven,” Mitchell said.
The chairman also said the executive moves would destabilise the company just when it needed a united board and management team to develop its Vickery South and Ferndale coal projects.
Coalworks will hold a shareholder’s meeting on June 15 to vote on the resolutions proposed by Macquarie, which will call for the removal of Mitchell and Firek, and the election of Anthony Ferguson and Johann Jooste-Jacobs.
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