Blue Star loses £1m and faces shareholder revolt

25th Feb 2011 18:41

Rebel shareholders want to change the board at security-focused investment company Blue Star Capital, which also admits that it is writing off the whole of its investment in Pedagog. Highland Fund Management Limited, SPDV Holdings Limited and Cloverleaf Investments Limited, which together own 14.9% of AIM-quoted Blue Star, have requisitioned a general meeting. Two shareholders, Blue Square Equity and Nigel Robertson, own nearly 56% of Blue Star so they will be key in this battle. Former Merchant Securities boss Anthony Fabrizi and Noel Lyons are being put up for election to the board by the requisitioners. They want to remove all the existing directors other than Lord Dear and General Sir Michael Wilkes.That means that chief executive Dr Richard Leaver and Peter Varnish would be booted off of the board if the motion was passed. Blue Star says that it will try to avoid the general meeting by entering discussions with the requisitioners in order to solve the issues they have with the board. Camera technology developer Pedagog, which tried to float on AIM a few years ago, has found it difficult to raise the cash it needs to keep going. Blue Star is writing off the £1.21m in Pedagog. That is equivalent to 0.807p a share. Blue Star's pro forma net asset value is £3.2m.