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Stelios demands meeting to oust easyJet director
2nd Apr 2020 08:02
(Sharecast News) - EasyJet's founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou has demanded a general meeting to remove a director as the first step in carrying out his threat to pick off board members unless the company cancels a large aircraft order.
The budget airline said it received a request from Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup holding company requisitioning a shareholders' meeting. The notice proposed a resolution to remove Andreas Bierwirth as a director.
Haji-Ioannou wrote to the board at the weekend demanding the airline cancel an order for 107 Airbus single aisle aircraft. The billionaire, who owns 34% of easyJet, said the order was the "elephant in the room and main risk to survival of the company" with £4.5bn of payments to Airbus between 2020 and 2023.
He said unless easyJet accepted his demands by noon on 1 April he would start a rolling programme to remove one non-executive director every seven weeks by calling for general meetings of shareholders. He named Bierwirth, a former Lufthansa director who has been on easyJet's board for six years, as his first target.
EasyJet said: "The board is considering the contents of the requisition rotice and further announcements will be made as appropriate. Shareholders are advised to take no action at this time."
Haji-Ioannou has had regular disputes with the board of the company he launched iin 1995, often over purchases of new aircraft. He received £60m in dividends from easyJet in March soon before the company said it wanted to tap the government for help in the Covid-19 crisis. He has called for a rights issue to increase liquidity.
The budget airline said it received a request from Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup holding company requisitioning a shareholders' meeting. The notice proposed a resolution to remove Andreas Bierwirth as a director.
Haji-Ioannou wrote to the board at the weekend demanding the airline cancel an order for 107 Airbus single aisle aircraft. The billionaire, who owns 34% of easyJet, said the order was the "elephant in the room and main risk to survival of the company" with £4.5bn of payments to Airbus between 2020 and 2023.
He said unless easyJet accepted his demands by noon on 1 April he would start a rolling programme to remove one non-executive director every seven weeks by calling for general meetings of shareholders. He named Bierwirth, a former Lufthansa director who has been on easyJet's board for six years, as his first target.
EasyJet said: "The board is considering the contents of the requisition rotice and further announcements will be made as appropriate. Shareholders are advised to take no action at this time."
Haji-Ioannou has had regular disputes with the board of the company he launched iin 1995, often over purchases of new aircraft. He received £60m in dividends from easyJet in March soon before the company said it wanted to tap the government for help in the Covid-19 crisis. He has called for a rights issue to increase liquidity.